Trouble on the Homefront (Rewrite)
by Overwatch Trooper 12
Summary: A failed tank experiment and a misunderstanding will soon drag Death Valley Boys High School into a fearsome conflict. A problem that will not only bring burnt scrap metal to their home, but will also change the way of how Tankery is looked at forever. A rewrite of my old Trouble of the Homefront story I wrote back in 2013. Please review and tell me how I'm doing in my work.
1. Chapter 1 - Death Valley Inbound

**Author's Note: I've decide that since it's been 365 days exactly since I've started this story that I'm going to celebrate the first anniversary of my first FanFic. As a result, I've ultimately decided to rewrite my entire story and give it a brand new coat of paint.**

**I plan on adding some new things to this and getting rid of some old ones in order to make it more presentable to my other on-going projects. I have fully read the Rules and Guildlines section to make sure that what I'm doing is fair or not. I will release a total of six acts over time, each act contains three chapters.**

**Please enjoy the new version of my first successful FanFic: Trouble of the Homefront. Now re-named as: Trouble on the Homefront.**

* * *

INTRODUCTION

* * *

The sport of tank fighting has existed for decades. Starting in the Deutschland, it has branched off to many parts of Europe and eventually to the rest of the world. Out of all the nations in the world that the sport is played in, Japan is the crown jewel of tankery next to Germany. The tradition of Sensha-do is highly respected among many young girls and women, ranging from various Middle Schools to the most elite Universities and Colleges. It is a well known sport by everyone, due to its intense combat and the overall amount of teamwork and skill that the participating students put into it. Overall, it has been a recognizable game for almost a century.

Many of the most powerful nations in the world have also took on the chance to perfect in the sport like Germany and Japan has. A few of these powers include Russia, Canada, France, China, Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. All of these nations contain a special school or two that always dominates the others in their home country. However, compared to a much larger scale, none are more successful and prosperous than that of Kuromorimine Girls High School and Pravda Girls High School in Japan. Both have repeatedly won in competitions and national tournaments as the decades had passed, showing more skill and prowess in each victory they take.

In the year before, both Kuromorimine and Pravda had lost to a small underdog school only known as Ooarai Girls High School. The small tankery team, lead by the 16 year old girl named Miho Nishizumi, had managed to pound out some of the greatest obstacles that year. Some of these obstacles included the might of Black Forest Peaks Superheavy Maus tank and a deadly duel between a both valuable and professional player in the sport, a 19 year old girl known as Maho Nishizumi.

During the last 30 years or so, the sport has been shared with girls and boys alike. However, the nation of Japan still remains as the only tankery practicing country in the world to have all females only, prohibiting boys from playing in the sport. Till this very day, Japanese schools practicing Sensha-do are still female only, while the rest of the world shares the sport with both genders. Even though Kuromorimine and Pravda have never taken on an all male tankery team before, they were sure that if they encountered one, that they will dominate the competition. Even after they've lost to Ooarai, both schools were desperate to snatch victory in the Nationals once more.

However, they will soon meet another opposing force from across the sea, that will take them on in the most armor piercing experience in the history of the sport. Even more mind blowing than that of Ooarai's huge victory the year before.

Unfortunately though, this event, will be no game...

* * *

**TROUBLE ON THE HOMEFRONT (REWRITE)**

**BY: OVERWATCH TROOPER 12**

**RATED: FICTION T**

* * *

ACT ONE

Chapter 1 - Death Valley Inbound

* * *

Dawn was on the horizon off the coast of Southern California. Further outward towards the sea, an unusually large vessel was drifting in the waters. The ship was gigantic, tall and long, featuring many engines and turbines on its sides to guide it on the waters of the vast oceans around the United States. On the surface of the ship was a large expanse of land, with one half desert and the other half city. The desert portion was covered in mesas, plateaus, buttes, and small lakes. The city portion of the vessel was green, with buildings and skyscrapers covering the land.

The Urban Zone was split apart by a long deep canyon that separated old town from new town. Bridges connected to the two urban areas that were divided from each other by the deep canyon that was between them. On both sides of the enormous craft written in large orange letters, spelled out the words: **DEATH VALLEY BOYS HIGH SCHOOL**. The name was written over a larger emblem of an orange sun above a scarlet rock formation enclosed by an orange circle.

Located within the city, trams were preparing to depart from a station full of males that ranged from teens to adults. The whole ships population was made up of the male gender and the male gender only. A tram with only one person inside of it was already leaving the station, and inside of it, was a 16 year old boy named Drake. Staring up from his seat, Drake looked out the window to see a neon sign pass by, lighting up with the words: "_**Ships High School"** _on it, with an arrow pointing in the direction in which the tram was moving in. The voice of a disembodied man came over the speakers.

"Current Time is 7:30 AM. Current Temperature is 87 Degrees Fahrenheit and Wind Speed is an estimated 3 Miles Per Hour."

Looking out the window near his seat, Drake saw the walls of the station disappear to reveal the rest of the world around him: cars in the streets, people walking, shops and stores buzzing with life and sounds of machines humming below. The sun was finally beginning to rise up into the sky to symbolize the starting a new day that Drake was looking forward to.

Recently, Death Valley Highs tankery team had won the semifinals against another school on the West Coast and was now racing forward into the finals against the winners of the East Coast. In order to make a grand entrance for the finals, the school had decided to use its funded money to construct a teleportation device, that allows tanks and their crew members to be transferred to the coordinates of the chosen location. Now the machine was finished and with three days before the big event, the final testing was being done.

"Still, I can't believe that we've created the unthinkable." Drake said to himself, "Lets just hope that it will work smoothly."

A few minutes later, the tram finally made its way into the schools docking port and stopped at an open platform. Drake stood back as the automatic door of the tram opened to let him out. Once the door was unlocked and had fully opened, he stepped out onto the concrete platform of the schools docking port for the tram system. Behind him, a group of freshmen boys went aboard and waited for the same tram to depart.

The sixteen year old walked down a flight of stairs to a blast door that led into the campus. The air conditioned hallways greeted Drake with a flow of cold breeze that differed from the heat of the outside world. The halls were full of students, lockers and electronic wall signs that lit up with different advertisements written on them. The blue metal walls and the steel plated floors gave the feel as if the students were inside an underground laboratory. There were also vending machines and soda dispensers down every other corridor.

After retrieving his things from his locker, Drake saw his two closest friends, Davian and Kyle, walk up to him. After an exchange of greetings, the three began to walk to their first period class.

"Hey, is there anything new from the research team yet about the teleporter?" Drake asked.

"Nah. Nothing but today's testing." Davian said.

"Hmm… Well, that's nothing new." Drake said in return.

"I'm sure that they are working their socks off as always." Kyle replied, "It seems that all they do in their spare time is read, read and read."

"Reading makes you smarter. It makes the brain grow more and you get to learn new things."

"That's true." Kyle answered, "Especially if your helping to make something like that tank teleporter we are going to use work."

"Gosh. That would make me go insane." Drake laughed.

Davian checked his wristwatch on his arm. The hands pointed to show that the time was 7:51 AM.

"The bells going to ring, guys. We'll talk more about it later."

"Agreed. Lets put our thinking caps on. Geometry is our first class." Drake added.

"Man, I hate Math." Kyle groaned.

"Hey, what would we be without it?"

The sound of the morning announcements filled the halls as the group of three began to walk towards their class. In their minds, the three were thinking about the tournament and what sort of events would follow with it. Later that day, the three boys met up with the other two members of their team's tank crew: Jonathan and Ian. Both of them were the brains of the crew, while Kyle was the brawn and Drake and Davian were just fast on their feet. The group came face to face in the control room.

"Hello guys! How are you doing today?" Ian cheerfully asked.

"Well now, looks like someone's in a good mood." Davian spoke with a smile on his face.

"Yes, he is." Drake said.

An awkward silence fell onto the room.

"So...should we get started, guys?" Jonathan asked.

"Indeed! Me and Johnny here were just looking over some last second changes before we begin the process." said Ian.

"Seems pretty legit." Drake replied.

"Now, before we begin, we need to go over what type of tank we will experiment on. Any ideas?" Jonathan asked to the others.

"Well if you ask me, I'd say the Luchs tank would be a fine test subject." said Kyle, "It's small, agile and could probably teleport much faster than all our other tanks."

"Perfect! I was thinking the same thing." Ian smiled.

One of the boys at the monitor whispered for Ian to lower his voice while they worked.

"Oh, excuse me...Sorry about that." Ian replied in a hushed voice.

Drake smiled to the situation. Though that he and Ian weren't in any classes together besides Tankery, he thought that him and his Radio Operator would be good friends. He also viewed Ian as a huge success in school for having good grades, lots of awards, and even a couple of neat little trinkets that he kept stored away in his dorm closet. As a human, Ian seemed like a happy person who was always in a good mood and always social. Drake on the other hand, felt much better by not being very social, yet wanted to have friends of his own as well.

"Anyways." Kyle said, interrupting Drakes thoughts, "Should we send out the Luchs?"

"Oh yes please do." said Ian.

Minutes later, the crew was packed inside the tank. In the big room above the testing chamber itself, the monitor boys worked on the readings. Outside the control center, a crowd of students and teachers came to spectate the test.

"Alrighty then boys, ready to undergo testing procedure?" a man asked over the intercom.

Ian got on the tanks radio.

"Confirmed." he said, "We are ready to go once Drake is finished inspecting the tank."

"Very well, then. Man down the hatches and stay in the tank boys. We'll take it from this point onward."

"Could you tell us where is tank is being transported to?" Kyle interrupted over the radio.

The man responded, "You will be taken to the battlefield that will be used for the finals. Its just off the coastline and there will be staff members meeting you there."

"Works for me. Time to rock n' roll."

Drake looked around for any loose bolts on the outside of the tank. After finding no problems, he hopped inside with the other four members and sealed the commanders hatch shut. The lights in the test chamber flickered off as the sound of the beam above them was being activated.

"This is it. I can't believe that this is happening!" Ian cheered.

"Yeah, don't get too excited." Jonathan said, "It could easily fail to work on us now."

"Please put on your earwear now." instructed one of the monitor boys.

In the control room above, the voices of the teams began to speak, "Power has now reached 100 percent and we are ready for teleportation."

"Engaging beam in five...four...three...two...one!"

The energy shot down on top of the panzer like a flashlight though a pitch black room and covered the tank with a yellow glow. For a few minutes, the process went smoothly.

"We are now preparing to activate the second beam upon for tank. Hold on tightly, boys." called the man over the noise on the radio.

"Initiating second beam in five...four...three...two...one!"

A second beam shot down upon the Light Tank. This time the beam was orange. The noise in the chamber was soon so loud that anyone inside it without protective earwear would become deaf. This went on for a minute before the speaker spoke again.

"We are ready to blast you to your destination! Brace yourselves!"

A third and final beam of red shot down upon the tank.

Teleporting vehicle to destination in five...four...three...two-"

Suddenly, a crash of noises and explosions filled the chamber. Fire began to shoot all over from the ceiling and parts started to come flying down from above.

"Ahhhh! What's going on!" Davian shouted over the sound of explosions.

"I don't know, but stay low guys!" yelled Jonathan.

"Quick, shut the damned thing down!" yelled one of the monitor boys to the man at the controls.

"I can't! The process is already in motion! Oh no! Everyone get your heads down!"

Following the response, a series of shots sounded the hollow chamber and a bright light swallowed the chamber up in a white flash. Anyone who was in it would have been blinding by looking at it. The sound of static filled the chamber as the Luchs tank disappeared.

"Where did they go!" exclaimed the worried crowd outside.

The monitor boys looked at the computer screens to see the location of where the Light Tank was being sent to. At the sight of the location on the screen, the monitor boys let out a cry of confusion.

* * *

(Meanwhile Across The Pacific Ocean)

* * *

A grand meeting was being called by Black Forest Peak Girls High School and Pravda Girls High School to discuss the next round in the Sensha-do Championship. The two enormous school ships floated next to each other in a parallel angle, steadily holding fast against the waves of the East China Sea. Aboard Kuromorimines Panzerkraft field was Maho Nishizumi and her Tiger I crew, preparing for a day of target practice. Maho was looking over an array of papers on a clipboard before her team called her over to begin training.

"Kommandant, we are ready for you."

Right when Maho was about to climb aboard her tank, a loud sound filled the sky. After a flash of light, a random black Luchs tank appeared in front of the Tiger I out of nowhere. There was a sound of thudding from within the tank before the Luchs fired its cannon at the Tiger. Though the shot bounced off the tanks frontal armor, it threw Maho off of it, resulting in her hitting her face hard onto the concrete. She layed there unconscious as her crew gasped at what they just witnessed. When they turned towards the direction of the Luchs tank, it had disappeared from plain sight and was nowhere to be found.

"Quick, get the Instructor!" shouted one of the girls, "I'm going to try and help-"

Suddenly, a huge force pushed from underneath the ground of the girls' feet. They thought that a tidal wave was hitting the school vessel but little did they know what was really happening. The entire Death Valley Boys High School ship had mysteriously teleported from out of nowhere and began to slightly tilt both Black Forest Peaks and Pravda's school ship sideways. The effect of Death Valley High's vessel sandwiched between the two other schools caused massive damage to their lower decks. Somewhere in a weird dimension, the Luchs tank spinned around and around, knocking everyone inside of it out cold.

What happens next will change lives forever…


	2. Chapter 2 - Consequences

Chapter 2 - Consequences

* * *

Drake opened his eyes to find himself on the hard floor of the test chamber. He slowly lifted himself up and looked around at the damage caused by the accident. The chamber was almost completely gutted out, the teleporter platform was crushed and the laser above was now a large heap of smoldering metal on the ground. Alarms were blaring off in the chamber and the control room above was filled with smoke from the flames that were coming out of the air conditioning vents. From his eyes, Drake knew something had gone horribly wrong.

"Guys, where are you? Are you alright?"

There was no response from the Luchs tank. About ten minutes ago, it was a shiny black Light Tank. Now it was a crumbled piece of scrap metal sitting in the middle of the chamber.

"Guys?"

"Drake, over here!" Davian called from across the room. He was sitting next to Jonathan, Ian and Kyle, who was standing against a wall hunched over in pain. Drake limped slowly across the test chamber to the blast door, that was broken and half closed.

"Thank God, you guys are alright." Drake sighed in relief.

"Yeah, I know. Listen, what is going on? Did the system back fire on us or something like that?" asked Jonathan.

"Wait, shouldn't you two know that?" asked Davian with a confused look on his face.

"Hell, I don't want to go back to that control room!" exclaimed Jonathan with worry in his voice, "That whole room is burning right now."

"Stop it, guys! Please listen!" Ian exclaimed, stopping Jonathan's sentence.

"Now's not the time to argue about something so stupid such as this. We need to get to surface and find help, because there's nobody down here to help us." said Ian.

"Yeah, but what about Kyle? He's badly injured." Drake said.

"Don't worry guys, I can still walk." Kyle answered, hobbling over to the others.

The five slowly began to navigate there way up to the smoke filled control room, where they stopped outside of the chamber.

"Are you sure that this is the best way to go?"

"This is the only way, unless you guys have a better idea?" Davian stated.

Right next to the group was a small roller cart with a bucket of water and rags in it.

Drake pointed to the cart, "Grab one and cover your mouths. Then just run through without opening your eyes."

"Sounds dumb, but okay." Ian said shrugging his shoulders.

Each of them took a wet rag and held it to their mouth and nose. With a quick glance into the suffocating control room, they saw the door straight across the way. One at a time, they charged through until all of them had safely made it to the other side.

Jonathan was panting, "I will never do that again. That was stupid."

As the team began to walk down the narrow halls, Drake got an eyesight of Kyle's wound. Apparently, a piece of metal punctured his side causing him to bleed. Though it wasn't very deep, a problem like that could cause problems later on. The group came up to an elevator shaft that was broken and out of order.

"Now what?" asked Davian.

"Find stair access. There should be one around here somewhere." Ian said.

While searching though more burning halls and dark rooms, they eventually discovered a few flights of stairs that were still intact. In the darkness of the shaft, they saw a weird humanoid shape on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, lying in a puddle of something. It only took five seconds for the team to realize what happened.

Drake gasped, "Oh my…"

"Just avoid it and keep climbing." muttered Jonathan in disgust.

The groups finally made it to surface level of the ship, where they were first greeted by their tankery instructor, who shinned a flashlight at them as they came up the last stair.

"Hey what are you guys doing in here? Everyone else has evacuated." He said to the group.

"That's what we're doing, sir. Why don't you come with us?" Kyle replied anxiously trying to hide his wound from view.

"I would, but there's still people trapped in the school and I need to search for them. I'll try to meet up with you boys later." The Instructor replied as he ran down the stairs they just came up.

Davian shrugged his shoulders and walked on. The rest of the team followed behind him. When they finally made it to the front doors, they looked out to see a shocking sight. Far out in the distance, they saw a humongous school ship just like theirs, only much much larger. On the side of it was a big Iron Cross emblem with Japanese writing in it. Of course, none of them knew what it said.

Behind them, in the distance, was another enormous school ship. However, this one had a different emblem on it. The insignia was like the old Soviet Union symbol of the hammer and sickle, but it was altered and had a scissors emblem above it replacing the star. Looking around more, they realized that the streets were a mess and some of the tall buildings were burning.

"I'm stunned." said Ian, "It's like a war happened here or something."

"I wonder if our 'Little Test' affected more people than we though?" Kyle wondered.

From his eyes, Davian could see two individuals pulling the California Republic and American flags off of the pull and placing them down to the ground.

"Hey! What are they doing?" Davian asked frantically.

Drake and the others ran at them, yelling for them to stop. Like a crashing plane, it hit Drake about who the mysterious individuals were. They appeared to be Japanese High School girls, wearing their school uniforms and all. One of the two was a ginger haired girl that was dressed in a German Panzer Uniform that had a hat and decals on it. Plus, she also wore a red short skirt up to her lower thighs. The other one was brown haired girl and was wearing a dark olive green top with a black skirt underneath. On the one girls vest was an odd shaped star that Drake and the others couldn't quite make out. When the two saw the boys coming in their direction, they fled.

"What were they doing with our flags? Why were they here? Where did they come from?"

These were the thoughts that raced though Drake's head at that moment.

"Fantastic, just perfect!" Kyle exclaimed, "Were dealing with a brunch of troublesome chicks that don't belong here!"

"Hey now, that's not a polite thing to say." Ian said back.

"Well, actually bro, I take Kyle's side of the situation here." said Jonathan.

"Please guys, stop messing around!" snapped Drake.

The other four turned to their Commander.

"Now, our first priority of business is NOT to panic, but to find help. Is that right?"

All the other guys nodded in agreement. Then, Kyle raised his hand.

"Whats up?" asked Drake.

"Just saying that if we are going to search for help, could we preferably find a place with medical attention. You know like a-"

Drake noticed that Kyle paused as a sharp pain spiked from his wound.

"Say no more." spoke Drake, "We need to get to the Hospital. The doctors there could help us out. Come on, follow me!"

Without hesitation, the group followed Drake out to the streets. They ran though the intersections until they came across a heart stopping sight. A large number of people were running off the sidewalks and into cover, following by a tan colored Panther tank treading down the street. After accidently crumpling a car while trying to shift gears, the tank turned its gun and pointed it straight at the group of guys. Then, it began to slowly drive towards them.

"Oh crap, run!" shouted Ian.

Crawling though a narrow hole in a nearby wall, the five dashed as fast as their legs could away from the Panther. Turning back, Kyle realized that it stopped at the wall. Out of nowhere, a shot hit the side of the Panther and stopped it in its tracks. A second after that, a small white flag popped out the top of the tank. A black Hellcat Tank Destroyer came down the alley with a boy on top of it holding the schools flag in his hands. It stopped in front of Drake and his group, while the boy on top spoke to them.

"Good, you're Death Valley Students! Get in! I'll explain later!"

Without thinking for another moment, the five stuffed themselves inside the Hellcat with four others. It was cramped and tight, but it was better than being on foot. The boy on top slid back when the Hellcat accelerated, dropping the flag that he was holding out of his hands. Pulling back out onto the main street again, they were stopped by a T-34 that was shooting its way through a nearby brick wall, causing it to crumble and fall apart. The Hellcat shot at the track of the T-34 and sped on past it. Unfortunately, it only led them to be stopped by a roadblock of girls and debris.

"Get out of my way!" shouted the driver of the T.D. as he drove through the barricade. This caused the girls to jump out the way of the wreckage. The Tank Destroyer drove on until it came to the city limits for a breather. After that, they drove through the suburbs and further out into the desert.

"Geez, what do you think is going to happen next?'' asked Jonathan with a tone of fear in his voice.

"Don't know bro." Drake replied, "But it isn't going to be good from the looks of things."

"Let's just hope for the better, eh guys." said the Hellcats loader from below the fives feet.

On the Kuromorimine School Vessel, Erika Itsumi, the Vice Captain of Black Forest Peaks Panzerkraft Team, called for an emergency briefing with Pravda Highs tankery leader, a short blond haired girl named Katyusha. While waiting for her arrival, Erika got on the phone line and called the ships hospital.

"May I help you?" replied a girl from the other side of the line.

"Yes. Is Patient 0429 alright? Her name is Maho Nishizumi?" Erika asked.

"Hold on for a second." said the girl on the phone.

At the same moment, Katyusha came through the giant double doors of Black Forest Peaks Tank Hangar and stomped towards Erika's Tiger II in a militant fashion. From behind her, she was followed by her Vice Captain: a tall dark haired and blue eyed girl named Nonna.

"Please, have a seat on the tank, my friends." Erika said to the two while finishing up the call.

"Nonna!" exclaimed Katyusha.

"Yes? What is it?" she replied.

"Go wait over there until I'm finished with my friend Erika here. It's confidential."

"Of course." Nonna said as she stepped away from the Tiger II Heavy Tank.

Erika then put her cellular phone in her shirt pocket and sat down in the commanders hatch of her tank. Katyusha sat on top of the tanks cannon.

"I've heard your schools Panzerkraft team has been sent out to investigate this new ship. Is this correct?" asked Erika with a stern voice.

"Yes, and you have sent your forces out to, correct?" Katyusha replied back.

"Well, not all of them. I'm trying to see how much it takes for their school to break."

"Break? You mean like fall apart?" Katyusha asked.

"Yes, indeed." Erika clarified.

"I would expect that sending out all your teams at once is best."

"To you it is, but not in my book." said Erika.

She then lowered herself into her tank, turned her back to Katyusha and began to rub a tank shell that was on the ammo rack.

"I wish to see how long their school can take on the heat of things." replied Erika.

There was a long pause and then Erika sighed and looked up to see Katyusha staring down at her in the Tiger II.

"They have hurt my Kommandant."

"Oh, goodness! How dare they do that to Nishizumi Maho!" Katyusha exclaimed.

"That's why this is happening, to teach those people down there a lesson and to have my revenge on the ones responsible for this!"

Erika began to breathe hard, her face flustering up.

"I will make them pay for what they did to my friend." she growled.

"Sooo...What does this have to do with my girls?" Katyusha asked, staring nervously at Erika in her state of rage.

Calming down, Erika lifted herself out of her Tiger II and sat on the lip of her commanders hatch.

"Simple." she replied, "Find their armor and neutralize it. However, for all of our sakes, please try not to harm anyone. Scare them if you must, but please don't harm."

"I understand." Katyusha said, "What about the law enforcement, though?"

"Do what they tell you and don't fight them. I'd like to see a terror strike that is not covered in bloodshed."

"I will try to avoid them the best that I can." Katyusha said nodded her head.

"Good. We will speak more of the matter later; I will ask our Instructor if we should send some more tanks out to aid you." Erika said.

"Understood." said the short leader.

Katyusha then got off her spot on the tank and walked towards the exit, telling Nonna to give her a piggyback ride out of the hangar. Erika gently closed the lid of her commanders hatch and sat back down in her heavy tank.

"Verdammt sie!" she cursed while kicking the inside of the turret, "They've got another thing coming!"


	3. Chapter 3 - Safe Haven

Chapter 3 - Safe Haven

* * *

The Hellcat drove across the ships surface of the desert region. All around them, the boys gazed upon the surrounding terrain and all the formations that make up the arid landscape. The heat was intensifying, seeming to have rose up few degrees in the hours after the morning ended. The drive continued until the Tank Destroyer came to a stop at a complex surrounded by a tall brick wall. At the gate of the compound, one of the members of the T.D. rose up out of the tank and called out in a loud voice to someone on the other side of the wall. Soon, a boy came over the edge to see who was calling for him.

"What is it?" he responded.

"I believe I've got one of the last members of the school's tankery club out of the city." called back one of the tank members.

"So...what do you want me to do about it?" the boy on the wall asked.

The Commander of the Hellcat became agitated, "What do you think? Don't play games with me."

"Are you sure that there's no one following you?"

"Yes, I'm positive that no one is following us." sighed the Commander.

When he heard this, the boy called to someone below to open the main gate. The large double door like steel gate opened to reveal a small community setup inside. The place was full of crates, tents, and firepits. There were also four double floored buildings at the far end of the compound as well as a couple of tree's and a road leading to it. The Hellcat drove into the compound with the gate closing behind it with a heavy slam.

"You're in stall 18." the boy called from above.

With that being said, the T.D. drove down the road to a path going underground. Inside was a large open spaced garage with a big selection of tanks lined up, one by one, next to each other. The Hellcat parked in a stall painted with a red 18 on the ground between an M6 Heavy Tank and a M5 Stuart Scouting Tank.

"Alright, everyone out." said the Hellcat Commander.

When everyone was out, the T.D. crew came up to Drake and the others.

"Get comfortable. This is your new home for a while." said the Hellcat loader in a sort of sad tone.

"I'm going to the Medical Attention Center, and I will catch up with you guys later." Kyle told to his team.

"Come on boys, let's go." said Drake.

The Commander of the Hellcat came up to the crew.

"Wait! I didn't get your guys' names!"

"Oh, pardon me. I'm Drake and this is Davian, Ian, and Jonathan. The other guys name was Kyle."

"The name's Cody." the commander introduced to Drake and his crew, "Remind me and I'll drop by later and check on you guys."

"It's kind of odd that we are introducing each other like this, considering the fact that we see each other everyday for Tankery Practice."

"Well. You are always giving us instructions, so I would figure that you never really took track of our names."

"No." Drake groaned, "Not when there's more than fifty guys in the club."

Cody chuckled, "Yeah, that's right."

"What is this place?" Davian asked.

"This here is Death Valley High's Tankery Storage and Training Center." Cody said, answering Davian's question.

"Strange, I didn't know this was here." Jonathan said.

"It's because all of our tanks are transported to the school, but since our championship was coming up, we moved them all here for preparation." Ian said to the others.

"Oh, yeah. That's why the tank garages back at school were empty."

"Interesting to know that." Cody replied.

"We appreciate your help back there while saving up from that insane Panther." Drake thanked.

"Don't mention it; I always like helping others in need. Especially, when a crazed tank team tries to shoot you guys."

"Actually, can we all talk about that?" Jonathan asked.

"Sure we can, it will help clear the air of our problems." Davian said in return.

"From all that I've witnessed so far, I'm actually curious as to why there's all this mayhem happening."

"Let's go sit down somewhere more comfortable than in here." Drake insisted, "It's quite a story to tell."

"I heard that you guys were doing an experiment today or something like that. Does that have something to do with it?"

The five looked at each other nervously, knowing that in their hearts, that they were involved with the problem at hand.

"We can't possibly send every crew out at once." Nonna said to Katyusha.

They were at a blockade on one of the connecting bridges, where Pravda took position at in the urban zone.

"We can if I say so!" Katyusha shouted back from across the barrier, "Do I make myself clear?"

"You do realize that the authority's are only passive as long as you don't cause any problems. Blocking this bridge is a road hazard and could cause trouble for the civilians." Nonna confirmed.

Katyusha pouted, "Fine. I will let people cross after we inspect the area."

While she was waiting around, Nonna decided to go for a short stroll. On her walk, she came across the flag that Cody dropped from his Hellcat. Picking up the flag, Nonna noticed Death Valleys logo on it. Observing the condition of the flag, she found many holes in it and felt that it was dirty from the asphalt that it was lying on.

Something deep inside Nonna's head told herself, "I don't understand why we are doing this to these people and their school?" We are causing problems for not only them, but also for ourselves too."

When Nonna returned to the rest of the Panzerkraft team, she heard Katyusha speaking out to a group of girls in a loud voice.

"My Comrades!" Katyusha shouted out," Though we've left the enemy in disarray, they are still present on this vessel! "Gather your teams together and search out these cowards!"

"What about the police?!" returned the crowd, "They might catch us if we cause trouble."

Katyusha sighed in frustration, "We are much stronger then their puny law enforcement vehicles and besides, we have a good excuse for why we brought our tanks aboard this ship. As long as you don't shoot anyone, you are perfectly fine."

The rest of the team began to murmur softly among one another before agreeing with Katyusha's orders.

"Good! Now, prepare for battle and search out the enemy at all costs!"

Nonna turned her back to Katyusha and began to think deeply to herself. From behind her, Nonna felt someone tapping her back.

"Commander, should we go now?" asked a crew member from Nonna's IS-2 tank.

"Umm, sure, hold on." Nonna said, hesitating for a second.

She took a look out towards the skyscrapers burning in the far distance and thought to herself, "Who ordered this operation?"

Back at the compound in the desert, all the students were sitting around in the cool breeze of the evening sun. Campfires brewed and all the boys sat and discussed about the craziness that had happened earlier that day.

"Damn, I never thought that was how all this madness started." said Cody.

"Unfortunately, yes it is." Drake said.

The crew was sitting around a fire near Cody and his crews tent.

"Well, I better get going. My team is going on patrol tonight in the desert and I want to be ready and awake." Cody said getting up from his seat.

"Night Patrol?" asked Kyle, who's wound was now patched up and cleaned out.

"Yeah. If we are going to be protected like this, we need to keep watch for surprise attacks." said Cody.

"Why would you say that? What would want to come and get us?" Ian blurted out.

"Ever thought that there might be...Oh, I don't know...Enemy tanks out to get us!"

"Calm down, Kyle." Jonathan frowned, "I'm sure that this little misunderstanding will sorted out soon."

"Those skyscrapers back in the city were blazing. What do you think caused that?" Davian asked.

"Teleportation probably caused some buildings to collapse in the process." said Drake.

"Figures." Ian whispered under his breath, "Science is dangerous sometimes."

"Well, see you guys soon."

Cody left to join up with his crew.

"On the bright side, we get to stay up all night." Ian chimed.

"No thanks for me. I need some shut eye after this long day."

"Drake, its only Eight o' Clock." said Davian looking up from the flames.

Drake was already up and gone by the time he said that. He looked out into the distance; the sun was setting behind a patch of storm clouds and the enormous Kuromorimine Girls High School ship. The skyscrapers that were lit up in flames came back to his mind.

"Don't worry man, we'll work something to work this out." Drake said in his head while walking back to his group's tent.

Aboard the Kuromorimine school vessel, Erika was fiddling around with a series of mechanical parts for her Tiger II. While she was preoccupied with her task, she got a tap on the shoulder. Turning around, she was greeted by a familiar face.

"Kommandant! You are alright. How are you?"

"Fine, just a little sore on the face." said Maho with a calm look on her bruised face.

"We need to talk about-"

"I know. None of it is pretty from what I've heard."

"I can assure you, that we will get this mess sorted out." Erika said trying to keep a calm face and not let her rage consume her.

"I know we will." Maho said back, "So, let's get busy. First though, I need to inform you about something else first."

Erika nodded. The two then walked out of the tank hangar and went back to Maho's dorm to discuss the details of the situation.

* * *

END OF ACT ONE


	4. Chapter 4 - Welcome To The Nightshift

ACT TWO

Chapter 4 - Welcome To The Night Shift

* * *

Drake opened his eyes to find himself on his tent bed in the middle of a pitch black landscape. He leaned over to wake up one of his friends, but there was no one there. Looking around more, he found himself in the middle of nowhere in the darkness. Rising up, he looked around for signs of life but found none. He called to see if anyone in the curtain of darkness could hear him, but Drake got no response.

From behind him, a loud boom of a tank shooting its gun was heard, and after turning around, Drake found himself looking at the same Tiger I that he ordered to be fired at on that grim afternoon. Approaching closer to it, he saw the small scrape marks that the Luchs shell left behind. While staring at the marks, Drake noticed a shadow hovering over him. Lifting his head, he was suddenly shot down to the ground by the body that jumped down from above.

Then, he found himself looking into a face that was dripping blood from cuts on its cheek and forehead. Plus, there were two glowing white eyes with no pupils in them staring back at his own eyes. At that moment, he realized who he was looking at.

"This… This is what you did to me!" shrieked the nightmare Maho.

"What?"

Then, she opened her mouth to emit the long, loud wail of an Air-Raid Siren that echoed out the sound of his own screaming. Jumping up, Drake found himself staring outside his squad's tent at a dying flame in the fire pit.

"Woah man, take it easy."

Turning his head, he found himself looking into the face of a worried Jonathan.

"What happened?" addressed Drake in a dizzy state of confusion.

"You were having a bad dream and I heard you talking in your sleep." said Jonathan.

Cody opened up the tent flap and responded, "Your awake? Good, we need your help tonight for the scouting group."

"Oh yeah. I mean, I'm awake and up now, so sure." Drake hesitated.

He then checked his phone for the time; it read 12:40 AM.

"Really, this early in the morning?"

The group of guys all met up in the garage with a battalion of other boys who were prepping their machines for battle.

"We'll take this tank here." Drake offered pointing to a Jagdpanther.

"That's another teams vehicle, though." Davian said.

Drake thought to himself, "Could someone tell them that the squad leader needs to borrow it?"

"I will!" shouted a boy from across the garage, "I know what he looks like too."

Drake gave a thumbs up to the boy.

"Alright then, I will meet you guys out in the desert." Cody said running over to his crew at the Hellcat.

The front gate opened up to let the squad of tanks out into the desert. They all drove in a single file off the road and into the dirt.

"How many of us are there?" Davian asked from his Gunner seat.

"Besides us and our Hellcat friends, we have an IS, a Leopard, a Matilda, a Chi- Ha, and two M4 Sherman's." Ian reported.

"Not a bad group." Jonathan commented, "It might not be our usual 25 man platoon but it's a great squad of choosing."

"There's a variety of tanks from different nationalities here, which gives us a slight advantage against the enemy." said Drake from above the others.

"You sure they're not made up of different nations too?" Kyle asked from the driver's cockpit.

"Well, no, but I just have a feeling that's what we might run into in the near future." Drake said back.

"Attention team, this is Commander Thomas here." spoke an older boy with an English accent;" You will follow my lead for tonight's patrol."

On the radio, the Commanders and Radiomen of the other tanks were all agreeing with a flood of yeses and affirmatives. Drake's crew was determined and ready for whatever was about to be thrown at them. Surveying outward, Drake noticed Cody waving at him, in which Drake smiled and waved back. Then, he saw the leader of the IS: a senior named was Thomas. From Drakes point of view, Thomas was one of the most popular kids in the school. He was a tall kid with dirty blond hair and green eyes; his face was fairly neat with a bruise on his right cheek. He was also well fit.

"Team, lets park over here in this shallow pit and get dug in." Thomas told to his other teammates in his IS.

When everyone else saw this, they turned in the similar direction and parked their tanks facing the dusty plains out in the distance.

"Load up your ammo guys." Cody said to Drake's group in the Jagdpanther.

"You heard him, load us up." Kyle said to Jonathan pointing at the stack of shells behind him.

The platoon sat at their posts for about 5 minutes before they spotted a tan Jagdpanzer IV in the open.

"Hold up!" Thomas called, "Lets see what it does."

"Do you think it spotted us?" Ian asked to Drake.

"I don't think so."

The enemy Tank Destroyer stopped in the middle of the open and began to shift its hull towards the group of Death Valley High tanks.

"Oh! We've been detected!" shouted the Chi-Ha Commander.

"All teams engage!" yelled Thomas.

Shots and smoke filled the night sky; the sound of cannon fire filled the open plains of the dusty desert into a vortex of echoes. When the smoke cleared, all the guys saw that the Jagdpanzer IV had been flipped onto its side.

"Fetch me my binoculars." Drake ordered in an excited tone.

Looking though the lenses, he saw the enemy team emerging from the tank in a fury rage.

"Heh, the one of many." Davian said looking through the Gunners scope.

"Good, move up."

The crews then reversed out of the hole and drove into the open. Another loud boom filled the air, followed by one of the M4 Sherman's getting gunned down.

"Quick! Take cover from the blast!" shouted Drake.

Kyle cranked the steering wheel for a hard turn and thrusted the T.D. to the right. All the other tanks scattered in other directions to find cover. A group of three other tanks came charging out at them, two Panthers and one T-34. Soon, the battle turned into a nightmare. Dust was kicking up and everywhere, while large explosions filled the earth with holes in the sandy terrain. The sight of one of the Panthers getting immobilized forced the other two female operated tanks to fall back, not before the other Panther shot a critical hit on the tank antenna of the IS.

"Hello, can anyone read me?" Thomas asked while holding the mike to his mouth.

"I lost the IS." Ian reported to the rest of his crew.

"Shame for his part." replied Cody with a frown on his face.

The crew in the Matilda began to advance forward and shortly after that, all the other Death Valley teams did to. Coming up from the right side, another T-34 shot its gun at the squad below. It missed, resulting in the Matilda firing back and knocking it out of the fight.

"Don't wander off! We need you here!" shouted the Chi-Ha Radio Operator.

"Heads up ladies, we got more to the north." said the Hellcat Gunner.

A Ferdinand came down the road firing at the boys. The shot hit the IS team in the underglazes, damaging it badly.

"Lucky bastards, but not lucky enough!"

The IS fired a shell into the frontal compartment of the Ferdinand: stalling it out in the open. The rest of Death Valley fired back at it.

"I think they're retreating." reported the Commander of the Leopard.

"Oh, yeah...they're bailing!" exclaimed the other M4 Sherman.

"Good work team! Let's take her on home before another wave shows up." said Cody with excitement.

All the remaining tanks drove back in the direction of the compound.

"Let's pickup the downed Sherman group, what do you say?" asked Kyle driving in the groups direction.

"Why not?" Drake said back.

"That was extreme...I want to go on the next patrol!" exclaimed Ian with joy.

"Don't we all." Davian said back with a small smile on his face.

A girl in uniform ran down the confusing hallways of the Black Forest School Ship towards Maho Nishizumi's dorm. She knocked on the door and called to her from the other side.

"What's with all that noise?" Maho asked raising her head off her pillow and getting out of bed.

Maho came to her door and opened it to see who it was.

"What's the matter?" Maho asked sternly while yawning at the same time.

"I have some bad news from the front lines!" the girl answered, "Here, take this message slip that came from Instructor Nishizumi.

"Mother?"

Maho closed her door and returned to her bedside. She skimmed the note carefully to not miss any important details.

"We will see…" she responded to herself. Maho then placed the papers under her pillow and went back to sleep.

The next morning, a similar paper was handed to Nonna. She delivered it to Katyusha.

"Of all that's right in the world!" Katyusha shouted and threw the paper down to the ground, "I will make sure they pay, just like what Erika-san said!"

"Wait a minute...What?" asked Nonna.

She picked up the paper and read it over to herself.

"Katyusha. I'll be back soon." Nonna said rushing to Pravda's tank garage and telling her crew to follow her.


	5. Chapter 5 - Power For The Tower

Chapter 5 - Power For The Tower

* * *

The next day, it rained hard. Most of Death Valley High was drenched and covered with water. Far below the ships, the waves of the sea were violent and fierce, reaching barely to the top rim of the lowest decks on all the school ships. The desert turned to a different color, from its usual chalk orangish red to a bleak dark brown. The sand also became dirty and muddy from the storm. The cities tall buildings that were covered in flames a day before are now dark. Most of the fires caused by the teleportation have been extinguished throughout the majority of the urban area.

Out in the distant plains, an IS-2 treaded on the wet main road. The whole road was not only slippery, but was also littered with roadblocks. Out in the distance, smoke was still rising up from the bodies of the destroyed tanks of both Black Forest Peak and Pravda from last night. Girls were out in the middle of the storm trying to dig them out of the mud, none of which were successful.

Inside the Soviet Heavy, Nonna peaked out of the tiny holes on the side of the observation deck to see what was going on outside. All she got was what seem to look like a cold, deserted wasteland. She turned her head slightly and noticed a huge flat hilltop where her crew could hide their tank and survey the land.

"Park it over there." Nonna said to the driver below her feet.

The crew pulled out and stopped on the hilltop. Looking outward, they could see a good 15 percent of the land in their direction, due to a fog layer. Out farther than that, Nonna could barely see the base where most of the tankery boys have tooken shelter at.

"I spotted a large compound, but it's hard to see without opening the hatch." Nonna said to her crew members.

"Well, why don't you open it?" asked one the girls.

"I'm really not in the mood in getting wet." Nonna groaned back.

"So are we, but you're the closest one."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Nonna asked again raising an eyebrow.

"It means look outside for us." responded the team's gunner.

Nonna sighed and unlatched the top.

"Alright, just brace yourselves for the rain."

Then, she opened the top hatch. To her surprise, it had stopped raining. Looking up to the sky above her head, Nonna saw a patch of grey clouds float above her, but not a single drop of precipitation was coming down. Still, cold wind was blowing on her face and a fog layer was descending over the land.

"Either we're in the eye of the storm, or it's something that I don't know about." said Nonna to the others below her, "Everyone out, let's set up here and watch."

She then undid the entire hatch, opening it all the way. Nonna ordered her crew to bring out a few pieces of equipment with them. A few minutes later, the tiny overwatch was completely pitched up and the crew began to survey the landscape. Most of the fog has begun to drift away to reveal the compound below them once more.

"Is that our priority target?" questioned one of the crew members, pointing to the base.

"Affirmative." Nonna said back looking though a tripod telescope.

"Is that where the enemy is holding up in?"

"Maybe, I don't know exactly yet. That's why we're out here right now, Katyusha was informed about enemy presence in this sector." Nonna replied.

"I simply don't understand why we brought the IS-2 along with us? We simply could have all rode in one of those jeeps that the boy's school owns." chimed in another member.

Nonna didn't respond. Instead she walked over to the cliff edge and stared at the compound, which now was populated by tons of boys since the storm has passed. She then began to wonder why there weren't any tanks patrolling the main perimeter of the base and how easy it looked to just blow a hole in the side of the brick wall and raid the entire place.

However, the real main goal in her own heart was to try to reason with their schools enemies and try to make them surrender in an alternative fashion, instead of simply blowing away their forces one by one. Nonna told her team to wait at their current positions until she returned. Nonna began to walk down the slope of the steep cliff to see if she could get a closer sight at her objective.

Inside of Pravda's gigantic tank garage, Katyusha prepared her group of tanks to make a crucial strike on a Death Valley High holdout somewhere in the city. Each of the remaining Pravda tanks were moved from their places and put into the depot for deployment. When everyone was ready, the schools army of girls drove out to dispose of the threat.

"Keep a sharp eye once we get down there!" shouted Katyusha, "The authorities know about the situation, but I do not wish to cause them more trouble than there already is."

"Comrade Katyusha, isn't your whole objective supposed to give the police a hard time?"

"Shut up!" snapped the short team captain, "Now listen up! The enemy is hold up at the entrance of a towering skyscraper. Please try to hit the tanks and not the building. I will tell the people what you did so you have to pay for the damage that was done."

The streets of the city was covered in ash from the fires that had burnt a while back. Some of the buildings that have been affected by the teleportation had been reduced to rubble, while some remained hollowed out or perfectly intact with the exception of a couple of broken windows. The skyscrapers were burnt as well with small clouds of smoke rising from scorched black patches on the sides of the towering buildings. The air was crisp with the smell of rain even though they were in a burning urban environment.

"This place is a mess. There's people cleaning up debris everywhere." said Nina, the Loader of the KV-2 team.

As the tanks drew closer to the center of the city (near the two long connecting bridge highways above the splitting canyon in the middle), they began to hear wild gunfire in the distance.

"All squad's stay alert! Were going in hot!" reported Katyusha.

Turning through a couple of intersections, the Pravda brigade were stopped by a couple of police barriers that were in front of them. An Officer walked up to Katyusha's T-34-85.

"I received a call about you dealing with a few tanks in the square. Are you the group that was called here?" he asked.

"Yes, Officer." Katyusha answered politely, hoping for a passive response.

"Keep it clean and get it done quickly. Don't make this problem bigger than it needs to be." replied the Officer while removing the barrier from the road.

After clearing through, the teams soon glimpsing at the city square, which was now covered in black smoke and chunks of concrete. A small group of schoolboys inside two Death Valley High VK 36.01 (H)'s were holding off the entrance to the tallest building on the school vessel. It was called the VM Tower: a super tall glass skyscraper with 75 floors and a huge red and black VM logo on the frontal face of the towering structure.

When Katyusha caught sight of this, she ordered her forces to take it immediately. In the lobby of the VM Tower, a boy named Alex (code named Sentinel) was toggling furiously on the radio for support.

"Hello, Eagle Eye?! Do you copy? Please respond!" Sentinel asked into the machine.

"This is Eagle Eye here, we read you Sentinel. What's the situation?" a voice on the other side said into the speakers.

"We are taking more heavy fire from the VM Tower and we need assistance!" he shouted back.

"That's a long distance for us to send tanks out for."

"Send the artillery, then!" Sentinel shouted over the explosion from outside.

"Roger, we will send artillery support to your position at once."

Meanwhile, the intercom system went off in the compound to alert for battle. Then, the voice from the boy named Eagle Eye called out to the base.

"We need the SU-8, the G.W. Panther and the 105 leFH18B2 squads to report to their vehicles immediately!"

"Hmm strange? Why are they calling for our artillery teams to head out? asked Drake.

"Obviously for something important." said Jonathan back.

They then saw a line of three SPG's leave in a line out of the base. The leader was a G.W. Panther, followed by a 105 leFH18B2 in the middle and finally, an SU-8 in the back. The group realized that not all of the artillery was heading out.

"Their missing the Bishop and M7 Priest." said Ian.

"Maybe they don't need them?" Kyle replied.

"Yeah, maybe? Wherever they're going, its probably somewhere bad." Davian said.

From her spot, Nonna could see the big metal gate open and the three SPG's drive off into the distance. She noticed that Death Valley Boys High was not Japanese nor in Sensha- Do because they used artillery. After seeing a tiny flag emblem on the side of the G.W. Panther, Nonna suddenly realized where the boys school was actually from.

"The United States of America? These are Americans that we're up against?"

Stunned to see such a sight, she withdrawn from her position and ran back to her tank. The team was sitting around when they saw her return.

"Quick, get on the radio! I need to get to Comrade Katyusha!" she said jumping on to the IS-2.

Without hesitation, the crew of girls followed her orders and responded to her message. Nonna tapped on Katyusha's comms and tried with the team captain.

"Katyusha?" she asked.

"Nonna! Where the hell are you at! I thought you said you would be right back! It's been three hours." shouted Katyusha.

"Listen, I returning now. There is artillery coming your way." Nonna exclaimed back.

"Impossible! There's no artillery in Sensha-do!" wailed the short girl.

"It's because its The United States. This is an American tankery school that your fighting."

There was a loud explosion that hit Katyusha's track on her T-34-85.

"Damn it all! I will get to you later!" Katyusha yelled while shutting off the radio.

Nonna then poked her head out of the tank and called for her team to get the IS-2 moving. In the compound, Eagle Eye was still talking away over the intercom system.

"All who are in the Tankery Club, report to the main radio room!"

"I guess they're talking about?" Davian asked to the others.

"C'mon, let's find out." Drake said to the others.

"Should we tell Cody and everyone else the news?" Kyle chimed in.

"Did you not hear what the intercom said?" Drake yelled back while running with the others.

"I was listening to music, what do you think?" Kyle said from behind.

"Bro, if that was a snake, it would have bit you." muttered Jonathan under his breath.

The teams all lined up outside a pair of doubled doors leading into a two story building on one side of the compound. When the group of boys made it to the radio room, they were met by a big wall of screens showing feed of the SPG's on the road. In the way of Drake's group, were all the other squads of the Death Valley Boys High Tankery team, watching anxiously at the TV screens. On the video feed, the artillery had just arrived at the city limits.

"Ok Eagle Eye, we have taken position. Preparing for firing run." said the 105 leFH18B2 Radio Operator.

"Roger that, perform duties and fire at called coordinates." Eagle Eye answered back.

The SU-8 heard the orders and got online with Sentinel's radio line.

"Good!" Sentinel called into the mike, "Now fire on coordinates on my mark!"

There was a moment of brief silence before three loud shots fired into the air and after a few seconds of flight, came crashing down on the target. The shots hit a Black Forest Panther, a Pravda T-34, and the Black Forest Jagdpanther. Every single tank was affected by the blast from the SPG blasts. From the eyes of the male tankers in their VK 36.01 (H)'s, they received a light show of blasts and smoke. Emerging from the smoke, the girls began to flee from sight, some were bruised and some weren't. Katyusha watched in awe from cover, realizing what mistake she had made by not listening to her Vice Captain.

"You!" she shouted pointed at the team's driver, "Show courage and move forward!"

She then turned and pointed at the team's Gunner and Loader," Prepare to fire on my mark!"

Then, she told the Radio Operator to tap in with the other tanks and told them to follow her when she gave the word.

"Nice shooting, guys! Excellent effort!" reported Eagle Eye, "Now reload and take aim again. Wait for Sentinel's orders.

"That was awesome!" yelled Sentinel with joy, "Nice shot. Plus, nobody was seriously injured."

Then, he turned his head and saw Katyusha on her T-34-85 alongside a KV-2 and another T-34-85.

"Incoming! We got more targets." yelled Sentinel.

"Gotcha." said the G.W. Tiger P to Sentinel.

The shells began to fire again, missing most the hits.

"Careful!" reported the 105 leFH18B2 Commander, "Don't hit anything other than tanks. Last thing I need is dead innocents."

Meanwhile, the KV-2 completely missed a shot and reported to Katyusha.

"Our gun is jammed! What do we do!?"

"Fix it now or they'll knock you out!" Katyusha said frusteratedely.

A few more SPG shots rained down and hit the KV-2 just as its track got shot off by one of the boys' VK 36.01 (H). The giant then began to catch on fire in the engine compartment, forcing the girls to put out the flames. But, after they put out the engine fire, they realized that it was way too dangerous to get out of the tank. They began to worry when a shot hit the frontal compartment of the tank, rattling its turret. The result was a pair of screaming crying girls in a immobilized KV-2. Then, another shot hit the T-34-85 next to Katyusha's tank and knocked it out of battle.

"Retreat, you fools! Retreat!" yelled Katyusha in a blind panic mode.

"We got them guys." said Sentinel said at ease.

Then out of nowhere, a shot hit one of the VK 36.01 (H)'s and flipped it onto its side.

"Oh no, what was that!?"

A Tiger II cannon emerged from around the corner followed by a Tiger I. Erika popped her head up and yelled at Katyusha to flee.

"Heh, about damn time." Katyusha said to herself.

"Ahh! Artillery, there's two Tigers coming this way. I need support now! screamed Sentinel.

"Hold on were reloadi…"

A strong force came from behind the SPG squads and blew a hole into the back end of the SU-8. From afar, Nonna had switched positions with her IS-2 Gunner and had knocked out one of the teams.

"Not on my watch." whispered Nonna to herself.

Eagle Eye saw this and shouted, "Artillery! Get the hell outta there!"

"Sir… I think we're screwed." responded one of the team members turning the camera. Two girls came forward to the entrance of the Artilleries with two PPSH-41's pointing at the loading hatches.

"Sorry, we're going dark."

With that, the SPG camera feeds flashed off, leaving Eagle Eye in a state of confusion. Back in the city, Maho and Erika we're doing the same to Sentinel and his squads.

"Lock those doors now!" Sentinel hollered from under a nearby wall desk.

The other two boys who were accommodating him ran to the entrance. The Tiger II Gunner's arm knocked on the fire button and accidently caused a shell to hit the building. The force from the shot fired caused the glass to shatter, knocking down the doors and two other boys near them. Sentinel hid behind the counter just as the two girls walked in with a taller individual. Shocked and almost deaf by the sound of the cannon, Sentinel slammed down to the floor.

"Damnit! I'm dead, Eagle." Sentinel whispered, "Goodbye for now."

"Hey, you down there! exclaimed Erika, "Show yourself immediately!"

"Over my dead body!" he shouted jumping over the counter, only to be mistakenly punched by one of the girls. Maho gasped as Sentinel fell to the floor in pain. Maho fell to her knees to help him, but the taller woman stopped her.

"Maho. Let me handle this." the mysterious figure said in a low tone of voice, "Young Man, your coming with me."

From his eyes, Sentinel saw only the emotionless face of Maho and Erika before he turned his head. He was pulled up by the mysterious female adult.

"Erika, help me with the other two." said Maho.

"Yes, Kommandant." Erika said back.

Sentinel looked up at the woman's face and asked, "Who are you?"

A pair of brown eyes stared down at him, but didn't answer. He then looked down to the floor hopelessly as his eyes began to tear up.

"Hold your tears for now." whispered the woman.

A few minutes later, Sentinel and the others were escorted out to the main square. A shuttle van parked up near the curb and took him, his two other teammates and the two VK 36.01 (H) crews back to the Kuromorimine High School Ship with the woman. Maho and Erika met up with the entire Black Forest Peak Tankery Team soon after the van took off.

"Well, now we are making progress." Erika said to Maho.

"What progress?" Maho asked in return.

"There is plenty more troublesome boys out there to turn in; we just got to perform a similar tactic as we did here." Erika explained, "Next time though, it will be Me leading the charge." she said in a prideful manner.

Maho thought deeply about the events that occurred and asked herself, "How come Erika is in such a fuss to turn over this tankery team? It should be my responsibility to make the agenda, not Erika's."

She was interrupted by chattering from behind. Both Katyusha and Erika walked forward.

"I just got a radio frequency saying that my accomplice, Nonna, has captured a band of troublesome artillery vehicles out in the desert not far from her. I was wondering if you would want to come along?" Katyusha asked.

"They found Mobile Artillery? There is no such thing, its against the Sensha-do handbook."

"My Vice Captain will explain once we get there."

"Sure, I guess?" responded Maho in a daze," Give me a second to get my crew in order."

As she went to her Tiger I, Katyusha and Erika continued their plans of takeover.

"So, both our strategies are working?" asked Erika.

"They most certainly are. We make a pretty good team. If all goes well, we might join our schools Tankery Teams together in the future!" Katyusha chanted happily.

"When the time is right, my friend." Erika responded.

The two departed to their tanks and all three girl teams drove out to the location of the captured SPG's. On the way there, a flash of lighting struck the sea below, as rain starting to shower down from above once more.


	6. Chapter 6 - Awaiting The Next Move

Chapter 6 - Awaiting The Next Move

* * *

Back at the compound, Eagle Eye began to furiously jiggle the buttons on the radio feed machine, in order to try and receive signal from the artillery teams.

"Hello? Hello?! Come in, do you copy? Does anyone copy?!"

"Face it man." said one of the other boys behind him, "They got them."

"I don't believe it. What if they tell those girls where we are all hiding at?" Eagle Eye asked to the others.

"In that case then…"

An awkward silence fell upon the room. Everyone turned their heads to the boy who spoke out.

"Well then…Umm?"

"Exactly. Think about the number of panzers that they'll bring along with them too."

"Hold on, how do you know that they have a lot of tanks?" another boy hollered from far back.

"I don't know? I just have that bad feeling in my bones." answered Eagle Eye.

From the back, Drake and his crew turned and began to leave when they realize there was nothing they could do at the moment. When they returned outside, they saw that it was raining again.

"I can't believe that we're at war with these two schools!" Kyle blurted out.

"At war?" Davian returned with confusion.

"Just curious, why would you classify this situation as 'war'?" Drake asked.

"There's chaos everywhere, people are getting hurt, and now there are World War Two sub machine guns involved in the whole ordeal!" Kyle shouted.

"I would think they would know better than to pull the trigger?" Ian responded.

"You think?" Kyle asked.

"Come on now guys, you really think they would hurt anyone for real?" Jonathan asked to the others," After all, our tanks have specialized carbon cores to prevent from dangerous penetrations."

"True, but remember, we are talking about 'their' tanks, not ours." Davian said digging the tip of his boot in the mud.

"Listen, I think we are going a little off topic here." Ian chimed in.

"Let's get the heck out of this rain first off." Drake announced.

He began to walk back to the tent area and the others followed alongside him.

Within minutes, all the artillery squads were evacuated from their positions and were lined up on the side of the road, guarded by the armed female guards. Soon after that, Erika, Maho, and Katyusha's tanks pulled up to the group. Nonna greeted them as they were getting out of their vehicles with umbrellas.

"Privet, my friends." Nonna addressed in Russian.

"Hallo." Maho greeted back in German.

"So, these are our 'Friends' over here?" asked Erika looking over at the line of wet guys.

"Indeed, they are most favorable." Nonna agreed.

"They don't really look that tough!" Katyusha blurted out.

"Well, you cannot expect all teenage boys to be what you think they look like, my friend." Maho told Katyusha.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." she frowned.

Nonna turned to the armed girls and gave the permission to fire. This caused a few of the boys to duck and cower to the ground. The only thing that emitted from the firearms was a noisy clicking sound. Katyusha bursted out laughing at the sight of the scene.

"You Idiots!" she gasped in her laughter, "They're not real guns!"

Murmuring came the crowd as they began to stand up again. Then, without warning, they all started to sprint away in multiple directions.

"What the… Hey, get back here!" screamed Erika.

"Quick, surround them!" Maho shouted as she ran back to her Tiger I.

The tank brigade then began to chase the frenzy into a circle and quickly surrounded them. When they knew that trying to run though the tanks wasn't an option, they all halted. Both the Tiger's, the IS-2 and T-34-85 all pointed their turrets in the direction of the schoolboys. Erika threw open the hatch of her Tiger II.

"Do you really want to piss me off!?" she yelled to the group.

Most of the boys shook their heads in disagreement while others just stared at her with angry faces.

"We aren't afraid of you!" yelled one of the boys.

"Who said that?!" Erika shouted.

"I did!" the boy shouted again, "You think your so tough but I know your nothing!"

"Shut up, you coward!" Erika roared.

"Silence, Erika!" Maho snapped.

The boy stood in a fighting stance, "Stop behind your toys like the girl you are and show us what your really made of!"

"How dare you! You know what, I'm going to kick your a-"

Maho's Tiger I fired a shot into air to get Erika and the group of boys' attention.

"Everybody needs to shut their mouths and listen to me! We are going to do this my way. Please, don't make this harder than it needs to be. I don't want to yell like this again. Do I make myself crystal clear?" Maho questioned to the crowd.

Everyone agreed.

"Goodness. Now you are all going to walk to the city under our watch without any complaining."

"Just to make sure you fools don't try to flee again, we will have our cannons pointed at you from all sides." Katyusha added.

"What did I say about interrupting me?" Maho snapped again.

"Plus, you will all be boxed in. So, this means that you can't run anywhere." Nonna said in a stern voice.

"That's correct."

"Now… Get moving! I'm freezing in this storm!" Katyusha exclaimed.

Maho decided to hold off on Katyusha that time. Pretty soon, the group was moving in a line within the space of tanks towards the city. Maho gazed over at Erika, whose top part of her body was out of the Commanders Hatch. She was glaring down at the line with an Iron Stare of disgust, even though it was pouring rain on top of her.

"If her looks could kill, they would all be dead." Maho thought to herself and closed the lid to her Commanders Hatch.

Drake and his Crew Members were sitting inside their tent and were talking to each other. Thomas and his IS team came over to them.

"What's up?" Drake asked.

"Nothing really. I just wanted to tell you guys that you all did well last night on the patrol run. I have to say, you were better than we were." said Thomas.

"Thanks." responded Drake.

"Now, we are going to the Garages to work on the maintenance of our vehicles. I think you should all come."

"Ok then, what good use is a giant piece of scrap on treads whose gun doesn't function properly?" Ian said.

"I'm happy as long as I don't have to do any classwork." Kyle replied.

The work areas were all busy and packed with people. Tanks of different varieties were being worked on from inside and out. The scent of oil and grease was in the air, along with the sound of conversation. The team walked over to the Jagdpanther, to find its original crew working on it.

"What I can't seem to understand is why all our vehicles are painted black?" asked Davian, "It seems so off compared to the environments when we fight other schools."

"I'm not too sure, but I think I recall hearing that it looked appealing with our school's emblem." said Jonathan.

"Really. That sounds like the worst excuse I've ever." replied Kyle.

"Well, that's the school board's problem, not ours." Drake said.

So much for a tank. We don't have one." Ian said.

"Hmm...I wonder why its not here with everyone else's?" Drake wondered.

Cody came over carrying a tank shell in his arms.

"Hey, fellas." he greeted.

"Oh, hello." Drake said, "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing much, just wondering if you guys would want to do some target practice outside the compound with us? One tank to another."

"We would, but apparently, our tank isn't here." Ian answered.

"Shame. I guess I could let you guys practice with ours for a while."

"Sure. I always wanted to compare the feeling of an American made tank versus a German engineered one." commented Drake, "Just give us some time to get ready."

It felt like it took hours, but the team of artillery crews finally arrived in the city. The pouring rain had softened up to a light sprinkle. Katyusha emerged from her vehicle and looked back at the other tanks.

"How much further?" she asked to Maho.

"Not much." Maho said back.

"Captain Nishizumi, they look tired. Should we let them rest for a while?" Nonna offered.

"We can't." Erika snapped, "We can't risk another breakout situation."

"She is correct." Maho replied back.

"Where are we taking them all anyways?" asked Katyusha.

"They're students, so they must be registered under the new school program. After that, they will be taught our education and the ways of Sensha-do." Maho clarified.

"Perfect choice, Kommandant." Erika said back, "That way we can teach them a thing or two about our tradition."

The tanks led the teams in front of the school and ordered them to halt. Looking up, Nonna noticed the American flag waving in the wind with the flag of Japan below it. On top of that, the California Republic flag was replaced by the Kumamoto Prefecture flag and the Hokkaido Prefecture flag.

"So, this is what they thought of." she said silently to herself, "I'd never thought that they would coed our schools together."

Sentinel woke up in a bed in one of the Kuromorimine school dorms. The room in which he opened his eyes in was closed up and dark. Apparently, he had fallen asleep aboard the Shuttle Van and was out during the time they arrived. He had no clue of what happened during that time and wondered who carried him into the room. He found himself tucked tightly under a pair of covers and sheets. Throwing them off his body, Sentinel was shocked to find himself only in his underwear. His face was partially patched up from the wounds he got back at the VM Tower and his lower left side of his body ached.

"Crap. How in the world did I end up like this?" he muttered to himself.

Sentinel leaned over and saw a stool near his bed with a first aid kit on top of it. Suddenly, he heard the sound of the door becoming unlocked. In a panic, he threw the covers back on top of his exposed body and turned his head in the other direction to hide his face from being awake. After waiting a few seconds, the door closed and locked behind him and a cold hand shook his shoulder. Following this, a lady's voice responded.

"I carried you in here, and I'm the person that undressed you and patched your face up." said the woman, "Please, come sit at this table with me. We need to talk about some important information."

Doing what she said, he slowly rose up from the bed and inched over to a chair near the table. Sitting down, he saw the woman sorting through a folder full of papers and documents. The folder tab had his real name on it.

"Alexander." the woman said.

"Yes?" he answered back.

The woman placed the file under her chair and sat down across the table from Sentinel. She raised her face up and turned on a lamp above them. There was a long silence before the woman spoke again.

"My name is Shiho Nishizumi, and you're going to tell me your answers to the questions that I ask you."

* * *

END OF ACT TWO


	7. Chapter 7 - We're Having A Match!

ACT THREE

Chapter 7 - "We're Having A Match!"

* * *

It took two days for the word of the two popular Girl High Schools colliding with a mysterious new one to reach the Japanese Mainland. News got to the public that the incident merely happened overnight and that the thoughts of misunderstanding were at stake. With the coming events of this year's Sensha-do Championship, many people were hyped up and ready for a challenge. The Principals and Tankery Instructors of Kuromormine, Pravda and even Death Valley, called together a conference on the events that occurred on the following three days and debated on what's a better solution to end the problems. By the end of the conference, all six officials have decided on what to do.

Information about the deal reached the students on all the school ships that next day, and in Japan, the citizens cheered over the sound of new kind of Sensha-do tournament opening. Black Forest Peak received the news about the subject discussed at the meeting and most seemed satisfied with the idea. At the time that Erika Itsumi heard this, a devious grin came across her face.

"This is wonderful. I can finally get the revenge I need." she said to herself.

The news reached Pravda High afterwards and most girls on that ship were satisfied as well. Katyusha heard the message over the intercom system.

"Interesting. Now it's time to show no mercy against these fools." She thought to herself.

Nonna was alone in her dorm when she received similar information herself. Letting her guard down, she smiled at the sound of the news from the conference.

"A fair match seems good to me I guess?"

On the Death Valley Boys High School Ship, the same news was told by the school's principal. It was a hot day of almost 100 degree's when the message was relayed.

"Attention, all students of Death Valley High. As you know, a meeting was called by our two Female Institutions, claiming that the events of the last three days were unnecessary and dangerous. In the midst of chaos, many men and woman, boys and girls were thrown into confusion over the strange appearance of the three school vessels coming together. The results were all of the schools Tankery Teams to be thrown into fierce combat that is labeled unnecessary. With lots of problems popping out of nowhere, our Scholastic Groups decided to form together a truce over our three Tankery teams to not show any violence what so ever."

Ian heard this message while walking to his teams tank in the garage and said to himself, "This is odd. After all the events that happened on these first few days at sea, we are already coming up with a solution?"

The intercom proceeded with the message as Ian walked into the garages.

"After the conference, we've decided to bring our teams out together in a different manner, instead of hostile fights in tanks. We all decided to do the first official…"

Ian returned to his team at the same time the Principal hesitated to speak.

"Boys versus Girls Sensha-do Tournament."

"Are you kidding me!?" Drake yelled out, causing the other guys to turn their heads in his direction. The message kept on relaying over the system.

"The match will occur on this Tuesday with the choice of the deserted destination to compete in. We hope your all ready for the action! Thank you for your attention and have a pleasant day."

Then, the voice went silent.

"I can't believe it, guys!" exclaimed Kyle, "We're having a match!"

"Lies!, All of them, lies!" shouted Drake.

"You're not alone! I feel the same!" Thomas hollered from across the room.

"Are you sure what the Principal said isn't true?" Davian asked.

"Don't you think that they're saying this too early on in this mayhem?" Drake asked, "This is nothing, but a female plot."

"A female plot? To do what?" Jonathan asked, walking over to Drake's group.

"To try and ban Tankery in our school." Drake responded back.

"Oh, come on now, that sounds absurd." Ian said.

"Well…" Drake stopped his sentence and hesitated for a second, "We'll see I guess?"

He then got up from where he was sitting and walked away from his crew back outside. The sun hurt his eyes as he stared up to the sky. Thomas came running up behind him.

"Don't feel so denied. I think you're correct about your statement." said the IS Commander.

"Yeah? Well I don't have any evidence to prove it though." Drake answered back.

"Oh yes, you most certainly do." replied Thomas, "We both know that they tried to take our tanks without permission from the people. We both know that they damaged parts of the city without warning, and we both know that they tried to take the VM Tower without any permission."

After hearing this, Drake's face began to lit up, "You're right; they have done a lot of unnecessary things that didn't need to happen."

"Plus, the only reason why we fired back at them is because we were practically using self defense… In a vehicle that is."

"Geez, thanks for the proof man. I don't know what I would have came up with if it wasn't for you." Drake happily said.

"No problem. I always like to point things out to others." Thomas said back.

"Oh, and another thing, do you know where Sentinel is?" Drake asked, "I haven't seen him in a while."

"No clue. I just hope he's alright, wherever he is."

Aboard the Kuromorimine School Vessel, Sentinel was having a debate with Shiho Nishizumi in her office.

"Even after everything that has happened, you're still going to battle it out?" Sentinel asked to Shiho.

"Listen to me, Alexander. You're friends are like Disobedient Children who need to be taught a lesson about respect." Shiho said sternly.

Sentinel raised an eyebrow, "I don't understand what you mean?"

"My girls were sent out to tell your friends down there to stop panicking and to look up to us and our Pravda alliance for support. Their response to that order was to shoot back at us and form up a rebellion in return." said Shiho standing up and folding her arms, "That is why I call them Disobedient Children."

"But, your forces fired back at us too." said Sentinel.

"We didn't have much of a choice, we used self defense. Now this argument will continue no further." Shiho concluded.

"Do you know when me and the Artillery teams will be sent back to our school?" Sentinel wondered.

"On the day of the mock battle, I will escort you and the others back to your classmates." Shiho said before getting up and closing the door behind her as she walked out. Alex set his head down against the table and began to mumble to himself.

Finally, the big day came and hundreds came to spectate and watch the competition. All the girl forces that were aboard Death Valley High were evacuated and brought back to their original ships, in order for the boys to prepare for transport to the event. While this happened, the city took the day for themselves and cleaned up the mess in the Urban Zone that was left behind.

Among the huge horde of boys being transported, stood Drake and his crew. Plus, Cody and his team and Thomas and his squad were among the crowd. The tanks were being transported separately by super planes to the teams holding area at the battlefield. Each transport plane was capable of taking up to more than 30 different individuals to their destinations. On the plane, Drake and all his team, plus all the other squads were in silence. After takeoff, they were all beginning to fly over the ocean, resulting in everyone bursting out in discussion.

"Hey, does anyone know why the hell we're fighting these chicks anyways?"

"Nope. All I know is it's the same ones who invading us."

"Seriously? I never thought they would ask us for a game of tankery?"

"It isn't true!" Davian blurted out," I bet you that it's some kind of propaganda trick to probably show how tankery should be illegalized on our school grounds."

"What exactly makes you think that?" asked a boy.

"Come on, there's proof showing that these girls obliviously want to alter our ways somehow." Thomas clarified.

Another boy said, "Alright then, give me a few examples."

"They would accept carrying out an order to collect all the tankery students and keep them from escaping." Kyle complimented.

"They would also send out an order to destroy all of our tanks and turn in all our crews." Drake added.

"Plus, they would send out an order to place their flags with our flags on the pole without permission!" Jonathan called from his seat in the very front of the plane.

"That I can believe, but why would they all want to suddenly, out of the blue, have a competion with us?" asked another person.

"They want to show to the world how we are doing their tradition of Panzerkraft incorrectly." Drake answered.

"Panzerkraft? Never heard of it before. What's it suppose to be?"

"Their version of our tankery." Drake called back, "It's very different then our version."

"How's that?"

Jonathan sighed, "Dude, you ask too many questions."

Nobody spoke for a few seconds, and then Ian began to speak.

"All I care about is our Tankery teams uniforms. These U.S. Army Desert Storm uniforms looks awesome on us." he said tightening his belt, "We look just like the Army Rangers."

"That's one thing our school has done that looks cool." another guy said from one end of the plane.

"Do you think they would suspect the American flag patch on our uniforms?" Cody asked in worry.

"Why are you so worried about that?"

"The reason why is because what if the Japanese try to start a fight with the United States?" Cody asked again.

"Now that sounds ridiculous!" Kyle responded in a state of laughter, "Why would another ally country want to start a conflict with America?"

Everyone just stared at him. When he realized no one spoke back, he grew quiet. A few hours passed before the Flight Attendant then said over the intercom, "Attention, we are arriving at your destination. Please, prepare for your departure."

"Well, Gentlemen." Drake said placing his helmet on top of his head," This is it. Ready?"

"Lets go beat some schoolgirls." Thomas said putting his shades on his face.

Standing up, all the boys formed a single file line in front of the blast door. When it opened, a blast of hot air hit their faces, as they streamed out of the plane. A glimpse outward revealed a line of mountains surrounded by dunes of sand. A large abandoned city was in the far distance. Vehicles were waiting to take the teams to their destinations.

"This place is enormous." Drake addressed in awe.

"A North African fighting environment?" Davian asked.

"Nah. More like The Middle East." Ian clarified.

When they have arrived at their schools holding garages, all the tanks were lined up and waiting for them. However, the SPG's that were assaulted on by Nonna and her IS-2 appeared to now be present. Drake and his team, plus Cody and his squad walked over to their teams' vehicles.

"Where are you guys going?"

"We are going to our real tank that we roll in. It should be waiting for us at the other end of the garage." Ian said.

"Which tank is that?" Cody asked.

"Oh, you'll see." Drake responded with a chuckle.

Then, he and his group walked away.

"Whatever you say then?" Cody shrugged.

Pretty soon, all the teams lined up in their squads and waited for the opposing force to arrive. In the distance, Kuromorimine and Pravda began to walk to their positions. Drake counted 35 groups total. His face grew pale.

"What's the matter?" Jonathan asked.

"They have 35 membered squads all together." whispered Drake

"So? What's the big deal about that?" Jonathan whispered back.

"The deal is we have only 25 groups, 20 because of no artillery support. We're severely outnumbered."

"Don't let that bother you, dude."

"The Panzerkraft Captains on both factions, please step forward." a woman on a microphone announced.

Drake, Thomas, Maho and Katyusha stepped forward and looked at each other, face to face and eye to eye. The voice on the intercom then told each leader to bow to each other to show respect for the games. When both Drake and Thomas realized that they didn't have a choice, they followed the orders, and bowed to Maho and Katyusha. When the rules were finished being explained, both factions prepared for battle.

Death Valley lined up on one side of the battlefield, while both Pravda and Black Forest Peak lined up on the other. While waiting for the signal to begin, Cody and his team felt a huge rumbling sound pull up next to them. Looking up, he saw a Black E-100 pull up next to his Hellcat, followed by Drake leaning over the edge.

"I told you to wait and see!" he called to Cody over the sound of the loud engines.

"Ha, ha, ha." Cody laughed sarcastically, "You make me jealous sometimes!" he called back.

"Really?" Drake asked as his smile disappeared.

"No. Hey, I just teasing with you, man." Cody quickly responded.

On a high desert ridge, Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe from Saint Gloriana's Girls Academy observed the screen in front of them of the battle that was about to begin.

"I am speechless over the fact that the Training Match is Pravda and Black Forest against this boys school. Have you ever heard of them before?" Orange Pekoe asked to her Commander.

"I can't say that I have." Darjeeling said back, "They said that this is the first time in the history of the sport that an all-male school would take on two girls schools at once."

"I'm really looking forward to this match." Orange Pekoe smiled.

Located on another ridge in the distance, Kay, Alisa and Naomi from Saunders University High were also waiting for the battle to commence.

"A Boys High School? This has got to be the cheapest idea that I've ever heard of." said Alisa.

"Are you kidding?! This is a brilliant idea!" Kay shouted joyfully, "I can't wait to see who will win!"

"The odds are unpredictable in this sort of situation." Naomi added.

Everyone saw a white smoke bomb shoot up into the air and explode. The crowd cheered at the gigantic TV screen, the tank drivers slammed their feet on the gas pedal and all the crews shouted a fierce battle cry as the drove forward. The match was officially underway.


	8. Chapter 8 - Operation: Gear Grinder

**Author's Note: Just a quick note to inform you guys that there is a bit of Ecchi content in this chapter. You have been warned.**

* * *

Chapter 8 - Operation: Gear Grinder

* * *

Bright sea of sand, dust kicking up, and the sound of treads rolling over the terrain. That's how the battle between the two factions began. All 20 vehicles of Death Valley were treading across the sun scorched landscape in perfect line formation, skimming the horizon for any forces that come their way. All of the tanks in the boys school ranged from different sizes and nations, achieving different goals, but fighting for one purpose. Far in the distance, the enemy was treading in formation to their goal, determined for victory and glory over their foes. The crowds shouted with excitement as they watched the giant screen, as the faction's raced closer and closer towards one another on the battlefield. The tension began to flow through the veins of all the tankers, as they prepare for whatever would be thrown at them.

The heat of the late afternoon was starting to fade away to bring forth the cool breeze of the evening. Drake and all the other commanders surveyed the landscape with open eyes and ears, waiting for the unexpected to happen. He felt a shrug on one of his pant legs below. Looking down, he saw Jonathan's face's from below.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I just realized that these heavies were made to have two loaders, not just one."

"I know, I thinking about that too." Drake replied, "Perhaps, I know another guy who could help out."

"Really, where is he?" Jonathan asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry; he is not here at the moment. Get to shelling." Drake responded with a humorous grin.

"Figures." Jonathan groaned.

"Come on, you need to work on those arms anyways."

"Hey guys, is it me, or does this place remind you of the Sahara?" Davian asked.

"Yes." Ian instantly replied, "I remember seeing that place in a picture that I found once."

"Just because the dunes of sand and rocky mountains are in front of you, doesn't mean that it's the same place in the picture." Drake addressed, "Plus, there's no sunset in the distance."

"Bro, he just said that if it reminds you of the picture, not if it looks just like it." Kyle responded from below, "You don't have to be so serious."

"Oh, well then, forgive me." he said turning his attention back to the outside world.

Drakes friends knew that their Commander had a case of High-Functioning Autism, but they never knew that it grew more severe. Every once in a while, Ian would glimpse up from the radio and see Drake fiddling with his hands in his pockets, trying to hide his actions. He was a very intelligent and kind person in general, but there were points in time where Drake would have trouble speaking on certain subjects or attempts to avoid eye contact while having a conversation with others.

"Suppose where do you think we should set up at?" Ian wondered.

"Heck if I know. What I do know though, is that they could be anywhere." reported one of the members in the M5 Stuart.

"Thankfully, you're a scout. So, your job is to find out where they're lurking at." said the Commander of the T-28 Russian Medium.

"I'm already heading out now?" reported the M5 Stuart driver.

"The perks about being a Light Tank is that not only do you get to report the enemies position, but you can also annoy them too." said the Commander of a VK 36.01 (H).

"What shall we name this battle, Captain?" Cody asked.

"Let's call this battle: Operation Gear Grinder! Who's with me?" Drake exclaimed.

The radio feed was soon booming with enthusiasm.

"Alright guys, we had our fun. Now, let's get serious." Thomas said to everyone.

"Right, who's the Flag Tank again?" Drake asked.

"That would be us." said a voice over comms.

"Wait a minute? Who's us?" Ian asked.

"A special little bundle of fun."

The answer confused Drake and the others. Cody looked around at all the tanks that Death Valley had and noticed a little orange flag popping out from between a M4 Sherman and a Crusader.

"That's not what I think it is?" Cody chuckled.

The flag progressively began to pull ahead of the group. When it cleared the brigade, the vehicle that was chosen to be the Flag Tank was the same Luchs that was experimented in the testing chamber. The tank appeared to be in working condition once more and the paint that had been scratched off during the experiment had also been restored.

"Wait, but how did you retrieve it?!" Drake exclaimed in surprise.

"We are a special scavenger team of students that decided to band together in order to find this scout in enemy territory and bring it back to safety."

"Man, good work guys." Thomas answered with amazement.

"That's not all, we also managed to see a couple of things that these two girl schools have in store for us."

"Really, like what?" asked the Matilda's Radio Operator.

"Oh, a couple of things." said the Luchs Commander with a faint smile on his face.

"Come on, tell us." Davian tempted.

"No, I'd rather not. What's confidential stays confidential."

"Well. So much for a couple of secret things." responded a crew member from the schools Jagdpanther Squad.

"We will worry about that later on." Kyle said to the others.

The two girls from Saint Gloriana's watched the movement on the screen with much anticipation.

"It appears that they are about to meet each other any second now." said Orange Pekoe.

Darjeeling sipped from her dainty teacup and nodded, "Yes, they will. Pretty soon after that, this whole map will become a battlefield.

"Who do you want to bet is going fire the first shot?" Kay wondered.

"Obviously, it will the boy team." Alisa predicted.

"I guess you can consider this the first shot for this years tournament." said Naomi.

The Death Valley High brigade continued on through the sun scorched landscape. Out of nowhere, the Black Forest Peak Jagdtiger and a Pravda T-34-85, pulled up on a ridge and began to fire down on the large group of black tanks below.

"Incoming fire!" shouted a member from the Chi- Ha.

"I don't see anything!" Thomas shouted back.

"Split up and spread out!" Drake told to the others.

The tanks began to merge off from each other's sides and into two giant groups of ten. Then, five T-34's and two Panthers emerged from out of the sand dunes and began to fire at the groups of boys. Immediately, the schools M5 Stuart and one of the M4 Sherman's were knocked out of the fight, followed by three of Pravda's T-34's.

"Where's our artillery support?" asked the Leopard crew.

"We don't have one; it's 'against' Sensha-do regulations." Drake said rolling his eyes.

"What! Fine, then just keep driving!" shouted the M6 Commander.

"Look, up ahead! Follow me!"

In front of the group was a narrow entrance into a canyon. Most of them lined up in single file as they charged straight through. The Type 5 Chi-Ri and the Leopard that was in the front of the line got knocked out just as they were about to enter the passage. The next tank behind those two was Death Valleys Churchill I. When it noticed the two get knocked out, the British Heavy turned it's turret around and began to fire straight at the oncoming Kuromorimine Jagdpanzer IV. The shot hit the T.D.'s gun and damaged it badly, though it didn't stop it from coming. Then, an idea hit the Churchill's crews mind. The Gunner fired at the track of the damaged JagdPanzer IV and made it not only stop in its place, but also made it swerve out of line and stopped angled. It forced all the other tanks behind it to come to a halt. The group drove through the narrow canyon and saw a T-34-85 at the entrance.

"Charge!" Drake shouted.

The E-100 fired its huge cannon at the T-34-85 and blew a big hole into the back part of the tank. The line drove out of the canyon behind the E-100.

Meanwhile, the other groups of tanks were making a break for the top of canyon, when they were fired at from behind. The T-29 and the M10 Wolverine did most of the work while the other five made a mad dash upward. During the time, three Black Forest Peak Panthers were eliminated, along with another one of Pravda's T-34-85's. The enemy Jagdpanther fired a shot into the back of one of the VK 36.01 (H)'s that the boys had and then fired another shot for the Wolverine, but it missed.

"I think they stopped following us." reported the M6 team.

"I think so too. Get the other group on the radio." ordered the Commander of the T-28.

The Radio Operator pressed a couple of buttons, then flipped a few switches and got onto the correct frequency.

"This is the E-100, go ahead." Ian said into the radio.

"We just cleared of the canyon. Moving back to you now."

"Roger that and out." Ian returned.

"I've got another shell loaded and ready for you." Jonathan said to Davian.

"Thanks. I will use it wisely." Davian returned.

The E-100 pulled up alongside Thomas and his crews IS.

"That went out nicely, you think!" Thomas hollered over the sounds of the engine.

"Look, I didn't expect that they were going to fire on us like that!" Drake yelled back.

"Obviously, we need a scouting party to go ahead." Cody said over the radio.

"Yeah, he's right." Kyle answered.

"Very well. Go ahead and send the Crusader crew out." Drake said with the raise of a finger.

The Crusader received the message and left the Death Valleys Platoon for the hills. When they got to their destination, they unpacked some supplies and began to observe the landscape.

"Driver! Go out on foot and patrol the lower region, me and the Gunner here will stay put." instructed the Crusader Commander.

Maho, Erika, Katyusha and Nonna were all sitting around and waiting for word to get back for them and their other forces to move out. During the time, Katyusha was playing around with a pair of new binoculars she got before the match. Peering through the glass holes, she noticed the Crusader crew on top of the hill, spying on her and the movement of the others.

"Curses. There's got to be a better way." Katyusha grumbled.

She thought to herself for a second about what she wanted to do. Then, an awkward smile stretched across her face and a weird idea popped into her head.

"Hey, I need to tell you all something!" Katyusha suddenly blurted out.

"What's that?" Erika asked.

Katyusha got close to Erika's face and whispered something into her ear, while pointing at the hill where the boys were located at. Maho turned her head and looked in the direction of the finger. Erika hurled herself away from Katyusha after the whispering had ended.

"Are you insane!?" she wailed with her eyes wide eyes, "What possess you to want to do that!?"

"No, if you really think about it, these guys probably have dirty pathetic minds." said Katyusha.

"What are you two talking about?" Nonna asked.

"She wants us to look hot, so that we could make those scouts up there go away."

"Perhaps, we could do this in order to get close enough to them and knock them out." Katyusha said lowering herself into her Commanders Hatch.

"Well then, maybe we could..."

Maho stopped her sentence and looked up to the sky. She noticed a helicopter that was broadcasting livestream to the public by camera and wondered if it was smart or not to make her move.

"Goodness, what if mother see's me doing this? Oh, how embarrassing that would be." she thought.

Itsumi Erika realized that recently, commercials had been added to the programs. This made it possible for her to make a move with the others.

"Actually, we could do what Katyusha said." Erika replied, "I think that a commercial break is coming up soon."

"Are you really going to do this?" Maho asked in an uncomfortable voice.

"I never had much amusement during matches before and we're against a brunch of teenage boys after all."

They are not fully mature yet and what we could do can send them back to being a younger child again." Nonna explained, "So, let's try my Commanders strategy."

"But what about our other crew members in our tanks?" Maho asked.

"Don't worry, we will all keep an eye out for those helicopter cameras." replied a girl from Katyusha's team.

Ok, let's do it!" Katyusha shouted.

Maho sighed, "Fine, let's give it a try. Childish as it sounds, it might work."

"I see the cameras lifting up!" shouted one of the Tiger II crew members.

On all of the screens that were broadcasting the games, a series of sponsorship commercials began to flash over the cameras.

"Aww, really!? Commercials now!?" Alisa shouted.

"Why!?" Kay blurted out, "I want to see more action happen!"

"Don't worry. You two will get to see more after the break." Naomi replied.

"Looks like an intermission." said Orange Pekoe.

"We must wait for them to play through." Darjeeling answered, "Oh, the drawbacks of being a spectator."

Back on the hill, two of the three Crusader boys were searching through their binoculars. Suddenly, one of them stumbled across Erika raising the bottom front of her shirt up and the front top of her skirt down, revealing her full tummy area.

"Uh dude...Dude...DUDE!"

"What is it?" the Gunner asked in annoyance.

"Look at that babe over there." he responded pointing his finger in the direction of Erika.

"So, what's the deal with that?" he asked.

"Nonna! Do something!" Katyusha ordered while looking through her binoculars.

The tall dark haired girl bent over forward, and unbuttoned her frontal vest and shirt to reveal the crack and slight opening of her breasts. The result caused the Crusader Commanders face to not only turn red, but to also let out of loud gasp.

"Now what?" the Gunner asked and snatched the binoculars out of his Commanders grasp.

"Dear God!" he exclaimed catching the binoculars in his hands, almost dropping them into the dirt.

Katyusha was laughing so hard that she began to have trouble breathing. The other girls in the tanks began to giggle as well.

Erika turned over to her leader, "Come on, Kommandant!"

"I don't know about this." Maho nervously answered.

"We all did something. Now, its your turn."

Maho closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned around with her back to the boys on the ridge and did something that she vowed to never do in her entire life. She lifted her German Officer Cap off her head, bent over forward, lifted her skirt off of her bottom and winked in the direction of the boys while blowing a kiss at them. When the Gunner looked through the binoculars again, he got a full view of Maho mooning at him. The Gunner dropped the binoculars he was holding, resulting in them rolling off the side of the cliff.

"Hey, Idiot! What was that for!?" exclaimed the Commander.

The Gunner just stared out into the desert without saying a word, his eyes wide open. The Commander went back to the Crusader and got a spare pair of binoculars. When he returned to his entranced Gunner, he noticed that the boys face had gone pale. Looking in the direction of where the eyes were staring at, the Commander peered into his binoculars. When he saw Maho still winking and mooning in his direction while rubbing her behind, he screamed and threw the binoculars towards the Crusader tank.

"Oh, my eyes! My innocent eyes!"

The other team member came back and said that he had found nothing. Shaking from their state, both the poor Commander and Gunner stood up and told the Driver to get them back to the squad. Meanwhile, all the girls below were giggling like underaged children.

"That was hilarious, Kommandant!" Erika roared with laughter.

"Thanks." Maho said blushing, "Please though, never make me do something like that again."

The radio in all four nearby tanks went off at full blast.

"Commanders, we have surrounded the boys on top of a fortified hill. We need assistance as soon as possible!"

"Right, let's move out!" yelled Katyusha.

They all began to drive in the direction of the shooting, ready for whatever their enemies would throw at them there.


	9. Chapter 9 - Disaster Strikes

Chapter 9 - Disaster Strikes

* * *

"Keep suppressing fire on them!" Drake ordered.

Both of the factions met on a large sandy hillside and were now under fire by multiple Kuromorimine and Pravda tanks. They have followed them from behind in hopes of snagging Death Valley High's Flag Tank. The tanks exchanged shots between each other, usually missing their targets and sending dust up into the sky, causing blankets of particles to spread everywhere. Eventually, one Death Valley squad shot out two Black Forests Panthers. During the chaos of battle, an enemy shot knocked out the Death Valley High Jagdpanther team.

"Nothing more we can do here." apologized the Jagdpanther team.

"We can't stay here forever!" reported one of the allies, "Sooner or later, one of those shells are going to get lucky."

"We must move outwards to push them back!" Kyle yelled from up front.

"Fine, let's move forward!" Drake commanded.

"Negative, negative! Our engine is failing on us. It requires maintenance!" shouted the Matilda crew.

"Nobody has time for that, we need to move." said Cody.

"We'll cover you while you do your thing." Thomas volunteered.

Drake stuck his head out of the Commanders Hatch and looked cautiously around the area. Turning his head towards the left, he saw the Matilda crew in a frenzy to restart their failed engine. He also saw an enemy Jagdpanzer IV and a Tiger II coming up the slope towards the Luchs Flag Tank, who was snugged down deep in a dugged out hole of sand. Drake's mind raced as he wondered if it was safer to protect the Flag Tank or to defend the repairing crew.

"Where should I shoot?" Davian asked from his gunner seat.

"Take out those two!" Drake shouted.

Kyle shifted the giant metal beast of a German Heavy over to the side, Jonathan loaded a heavy shell into the compartment and Davian peered through the scope to see his choice of targets.

"That's thick armor." Davian said focusing on the Tiger II's frontal armor.

"Hit it in the underglazes for critical damage!"

"It's too hidden." Davian said gnawing his teeth in concentration.

"Damnit! Fire now, or we'll lose the Luchs!" Drake exclaimed.

Davian pulled the trigger and fired the shot into the side of the Tiger II. It stopped it in its place with smoke coming from the compartment. The enemy crew of girls began to crawl out of their tank in a panic.

"Are they supposed to get out during this kind of combat?" Cody asked.

"Beats me, but I hope their okay." Ian replied.

"Engine is just about finished, we will have it up and ready in no time flat!" reported the Matilda Team.

"Better hope so. The enemy is advancing."

Two more T-34-85's came rolling up to Drake's E-100 and started open firing on its side. No matter how much they tried, the two tanks kept bouncing off the armor.

"Uhhh…What do they think this is?" Kyle asked.

"T1 Cunningham?" Ian chuckled.

"I guess? They must really love following orders that were given from their captain." Cody sighed.

Thomas and his IS crew noticed this and started shooting at them. While they knocked out one of the T-34-85's, the Matilda shot the other.

"This is getting embarrassing. Let's roll out, guys." Drake said.

"Where to?" Kyle asked.

"The city! Lets go quickly!"

Getting off the hillside was a difficult one. The amount of pressure and enemy fire made the job much more harder than it needed to be. After a few minutes of battling down the slope, the platoon of Death Valley High tanks were on the move again. Meanwhile, the four girl school leaders began to tread in the direction of the rising smoke clouds. The time they took waiting around had threw them off guard, resulting in them returning late to the action.

"Who do you assume those smoke clouds are coming from?" Nonna asked nervously.

"Hopefully our foes. They probably have been eliminated by now." said Katyusha.

"Be ready for whoever is hiding over those dunes." Erika instructed.

"Prepare yourselves. It's about to get fierce." Maho warned.

Just as they were about to go over the dune, the E-100 came rolling over the hill. When Katyusha came in contact with the heavy, both herself and her whole crew froze in fear. Erika's first impulse when she saw this was to start shooting but Maho gave the word not to. While following Drake and his squad, the Hellcat team got shot by Nonna's IS-2, which caused it to slide on the sand and flip over on its side. The crew tumbled over each other inside the compartment. The rest of the Death Valley brigade stormed over the hill.

"Oh no! Here they come!" Katyusha shouted.

"All units, fall back and keep firing!" Maho ordered.

The M6 was the first to get knocked out. As they were coming over the hill, Erika's Tiger II blasted a hole into it's under belly which stopped its movement. The T-29 and the M10 Wolverine came over the sand dune afterwards, both were guarding the Luchs from enemy projectiles. The T-29 fired a shell into the Tiger I and knocked out Maho and her team.

"Brilliant!" Orange Pekoe cheered, "They managed to eliminate Nishizumi-sama."

"Impressive. Nobody besides Ooarai has ever knocked out Captain Nishizumi Maho before." Darjeeling commented in surprise.

"Wow! There goes the Tiger!" Kay exclaimed.

"We're done, sorry squad." Maho said pushing herself up in the tanks compartment.

"At least you weren't the flag tank, Kommandant." Erika replied in relief.

"Where's their flag tank?" Davian asked, still staring through the sniper scope.

"Don't worry about it, the others have it well protected." Thomas clarified, "Just keep moving. You're a slow sitting duck in the open."

The battle kept pressing on. Barely any accurate hits were made after Maho was knocked out. Soon, the entire Black Forest Jagdpanzer IV squad came charging behind them, firing their cannons. The Heavies from Death Valley kept suppressing fire on the enemy from a distance while the lighter vehicles stormed ahead of the pack.

"It's like a Peanut Gallery for Heavy tanks." said the T-29 in amusement.

"Split up again, everyone. T-29 squad, lead everyone to the hills." Drake ordered.

We're going to need the Churchill I and the IS to assist us in leading the Luchs into the city." Ian instructed into the radio.

The crews began to split up once more. The M10 Wolverine, T-29, T-28, Chi- Ha, Matilda and the other M4 Sherman and VK 36.01 (H) drove off to the right, while the E-100, IS, Churchill I and the Luchs made a dash to the abandon desert city. In the madness of the battle, Drake remembered something.

"Hey! Where in the blazes is that Crusader Team?"

"I don't know?" Jonathan shrugged.

"Shall I call for them?" Ian asked.

"Please." Drake said wiping the sweat from his forehead.

On the far side of the battlefield, the Crusader was found. Still in a daze from their 'Unforgetful Show' they saw from earlier, the tank was treading alone on the beach near the water. A large expanse of water gave the impression that they were near the coast. When the Crusader Team received the call, it didn't only just shock them out of their daze, but also made the Driver steer out of control and drive into the water.

"Good job, Dumbass." groaned the Gunner.

"Darn it! Time to bail out, boys." ordered the Commander.

As the crew hopped out of the Crusader and started swimming to shore, the scout tank began to sink under the water. They all came walking up onto the soggy sand and sat on to the beach, exhausted and wet. An Officials Truck came and picked up the crew a few minutes later.

"Well, there goes another few million bucks to fish that out and clean it up."

Back in the city, Drake and his allies came storming through the dusty streets, when out of nowhere, they noticed a small tan Panzer III sticking its rear end out from a building corner. On contact, Thomas shot at it, but it managed to scurry away.

"Hmm… This seems unusual?" said the Churchill I Commander from a distance.

"Gee, you think?" Thomas answered humorously, making his English accent crack a little, "Why is it away from the rest of its team?"

"Maybe it's a scout like that Crusader team. Man, where do you think they are, Captain?" Ian asked.

Drake hesitated, "Perhaps they...Never mind that, it's a mystery that we'll solve later."

As the tanks continued their treading down the streets, they all got separated from one another while searching for the Panzer III.

"Where did you guys go?" Thomas asked over the radio.

Kyle looked down at his map to see where their position was located at, "Hmm...they must be around here somewh-"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and the whole cabin vibrated. Wondering what caused the racket; Drake stood up and looked outside. Upon discovering what they've hit, he slowly lowered himself back inside.

"Well boys, looks like we found our Distant Cousin." Drake gulped. He peered though the holes of the viewing port.

"Goodness. There it is again." Orange Pekoe gasped.

Kuromorimines enormous prototype was right in front of them. Feeling the crash, the Maus turned its gun to see what was behind it. The E-100 fired a shot into its target, but ended up firing into the air when both of the tank cannons bumped into each other.

"Kyle, floor it! Davian, keep their gun at bay with ours!" commanded Drake.

"I'll load up shells like Hell." Jonathan offered.

"Copy that. I'll send word to the others!" Ian volunteered.

The two beasts continued to butt each other's guns against one another. The Maus shot back, but missed each one it fired. The enemy Commander got so mad that she pulled herself out of the Commanders Hatch at the same time Drake did. She started yelling something, but Drake couldn't hear what she was saying over the sound of clanking metal. He solved the solution by pulling out a megaphone in one of the E-100's cabinets and returned to his spot. The other girl did the same.

"What did you say again, miss?" Drake asked in a funny tone of voice.

"You fool! Let my gun loose!" she shouted back.

"Yeah...um...No, I don't care." Drake answered pretending to hesitate.

"Come on!" she returned.

"No."

"The gun is going to brake!"

"No."

Drake turned up the volume to max.

"Listen you, do it before I…

"Noooo…" Drake replied back with agitation. Once he was finished, he disappeared back into the tank again.

"Don't worry guys, were coming!" Thomas called over the radio.

At the cliffside, Kay was laughing as hard as she could, "That was pure gold right there! Classic."

Alisa and Naomi looked at each other weirdly.

While this was happening, the Luchs was almost blown away by a shell from behind. Peering out of the Commanders Hatch, the Luchs Commander noticed the Black Forest Panzer III chasing after them.

"We're being followed! Lose that panzer!" the Commander ordered to his team.

The hot pursuit continued with the Luchs' rapid fire cannon blasting away at their attacker. When the two came close to the outskirts of town, The Luchs team swerved its tank behind a building and waited for the Panzer III to pass. Once it did pass, the Death Valley High Flag Tank began to punch holes into the rear of the panzer. When they noticed the enemy vehicle was knocked out, they returned back to Drake.

Back in the sandy hills, the other platoon was beginning to take their positions for the next oncoming wave of attackers. They waited for awhile before they started to think that the enemy had bailed out on them. When they were beginning to have second thoughts, Pravda's KV-2 shot into the lower part of the T-29 and ended up eliminating it from the match.

"Look out! They're coming from behind us!" shouted the T-28 Commander.

Erika grinned as her teams Tiger II blasted away the other M4 Sherman.

"You're ours now." Erika muttered to herself.

"When the Ferdinand started to charge towards the Males, its tank track miraculously got jammed at the precise moment it got in the way of Katyusha's shot. The result caused it to slide backwards down slope halfway and got its back shell opener blown open.

"Oops, sorry." Katyusha apologized.

Irritated by this, she turned her head to her Gunner and scowled.

"You. Me. School. Lecture about Friendly Fire." Katyusha growled.

The Jagdtiger fired a shot into the side of the other Death Valley VK 36.01 (H) and expected a simple knockout, but instead caused an ugly chain reaction. Somehow, the shot managed to hit the ammo rack from within the armored vehicle and blew up the entire compartment. The tank flipped over and tumbled down the hill. A loud alarm rang through the air at the same moment that the E-100, the IS, and the Churchill I had punched a load of shells into the Maus, immobilizing it. A specialized beacon placed inside everybody's tanks in the beginning of the games caused all of them to freeze in place and for their guns to lock up.

Floods of Officials, Firemen, and Paramedics came rushing onto the field to find out the amount of damage that was caused. All of the remaining participants were forced to leave their tanks immediately and report to the grandstands while the emergency team was sent out.

As soon as everyone was rounded up, the gigantic T.V. Screen showed the burning VK 36.01 (H) get extinguished by firefighters, followed by paramedics fishing out the bodies from inside the tank. The crowd in the stands let out a huge cry when they saw the darkened bodies of the crew get pulled out of the turret. Drakes mind became blank at the sight of the tragedy and he soon felt a hint of sorrow flow over himself, like it was his responsibility for their deaths. He looked over at his fellow teammates and saw Davian, Kyle, Ian and Jonathan in a state of shock.

"Oh my! This can't be true, Darjeeling-san!" Orange Pekoe cried.

"This is a tragedy like never before." Darjeeling grieved, "I can't imagine what will happen next."

"How is that possible!?" Kay exclaimed, "They managed to harm those poor souls."

"It doesn't appear like they did that on purpose, though." Alisa added.

Naomi pointed at the screen, "I sense trouble brewing up. Look at that."

Then, out of nowhere, a loud cry was heard and a group of girls and boys were wrestling each other on the ground. A large quarrel erupted between the three schools to the point where the security had to come in and brake up the fights. Drake and his friends, along with Cody and Thomas watched with terror as the brawn was extinguished.

In the distance, Erika and Maho, alongside with Katyusha and Nonna stared at the group of boys as they were being rushed away by Officials. The girls were also turned away to the planes just as the problem began. Nobody really knew who started the fight that evening, but the result of it sparked a burning flame of hatred between the schools.

Unfortunately, the worst has yet to come…

* * *

END OF ACT THREE


	10. Chapter 10 - Recover and Retrieve

ACT FOUR

Chapter 10 - Recover &amp; Retrieve

* * *

The sun was starting to set on the clear horizon as the planes from all 3 schools begin to fly homeward bound. The ride was quiet; nobody spoke on the planes, only for the sound of breathing or coughing, with occasional whispers here and there. Drake was staring out the window at the dying sun on the ocean line, when Black Forest's plane came alongside theirs. Looking up, Drake saw a girls face staring at him.

Nishizumi Maho found herself staring straight into Drake's eyes, resulting in her mind flashing back to the first day, when the mysterious black Luchs appeared out of nowhere and knocked her to the ground. She realized at the same moment that the boy on the opposite plane of hers was the same Commander that blindly ordered the shot to be fired at her tank. Both of their stares flashed away as they both stared down at the floor near their feet. Maho felt her cheek and forehead for the injuries she got on that morning; all that existed now were a few scratches and a small slash scab. Troubled by this, Maho felt a hint of overwhelment flash over her.

"What is the matter, Kommandant?" asked Erika.

She quickly reacted, "Its nothing."

She turned her head to look back at Death Valley High's plane, but it had drifted off into the distance, replacing it with Pravda's. Maho then took hold of her window cover and slowly pulled it down with a sigh. She closed her eyes and tried to cause herself to go to sleep, but in all her attempts to fall alsleep, she failed in doing so.

"You do look troubled, Kommandant." Erika said, "What's the matter?"

"It's about what happened today. What happened to that tank."

"Kommandant, that was an accident. It wasn't our fault." Erika clarified.

She extended a hand out to touch her Commanders shoulder, but Maho slid closer to her window.

"Please, I need some time by myself."

Erika took this as her cue to stop. She leaned back into her seat and stared up at the ceiling of the plane.

* * *

(A Few Hours Later)

* * *

Jonathan was sleeping when he felt a shake on his knee. He opened his eyes to see Davian come by to receive his gear from the top holder above.

"Here already?" Jonathan yawned while stretching his arms up into the air, only to feel a sore pain shoot down his arms.

When everyone emerged out of the plane, the night greeted them with the cold wind hitting their faces. On the ride, the well lit city confused the boys as to why their going back to the school. The front of the campus greeted the Tankery Team as they unpacked from the vehicles. Drake lifted his head to see the Japanese and American Flag waving in the breeze.

"I wonder how long this conflict will last." He whispered to himself.

"Why did they take us back to school?" Ian asked.

"I don't know, but lets worry about that tomorrow." said Drake.

Everyone went their separate ways and returned to their dorms. The campus of Death Valley Boys High School appeared to look much larger at night rather than during the daytime. The light posts and well lit walkways outside showed the returning crews to their location. When Drake and Ian had reached the door of their dorm, Drake pulled out a key from his wallet and unlocked the way. Once the two were settled in, Ian looked at the clock.

"It's 10:30 PM." Ian said to his Commander.

"Yeah, I realized that." Drake answered from his top bunk.

Ian climbed up the ladder of the bunk bed. When he reached the top, Ian was treated to a surprising sight. Drake was reaching for something out of his backpack and after a few seconds of searching, pulled out a white and blue security blanket. It appeared to be made of flannel, with soft blue crochets of fabric on the borderline of it. When he began to rub it on his face, Drake closed his eyes and began to suckle with his tongue, even though his mouth was closed. When he sensed Ian's presence, he opened his eyes again to see his Radio Operator staring at him blankly.

"Commander? Didn't you say you got rid of that a while back?" Ian asked.

Drake was speechless. When Ian came close to touching the security blanket, Drake backed away and tucked it underneath his pillow as if it was a top secret weapon that wasn't supposed to be touched.

"Lets talk about that flag pole outside, shall we?" Drake insisted, hoping to change the subject.

Meanwhile, Sentinel was sitting alone on his bed, looking out at the moon from the room that was appointed to him on Kuromorimine. The door opened behind him and he turned around to see who it was. Standing in the doorway was Shiho Nishizumi, a face that Sentinel was familiar with.

"I apologize that I didn't send you and the others back to your school today." Shiho said, "The busyness of the match had caught me off of my original tasks for today."

"I don't want to go back to that place." Sentinel murmured.

"Don't be ridiculous, you…"

"I don't feel that they think I'm good enough for them anymore."

"For who? I don't understand what your talking about, Alexander?" Shiho said crossly.

"Since I was captured by you, the guys at school must think I'm a traitor." Sentinel answered.

Shiho's voice grew deeper, "Listen here. We did not capture you at all and we had you detained here in order to hear out your case."

"What case? I have no idea what you are talking about, Miss?" Sentinel replied.

Shiho grew silent when she realized the method of communication that she was using wasn't working. She thought for a second before continuing her conversation.

"Why do you feel a sense of betrayal from your fellow students?" Shiho asked.

Sentinel turned to the woman, "Well...Remember a few days ago when there was that fight between our tank teams at the VM Tower? That's what I mean. I'm sure someone else from Death Valley High might have seen me leaving with you and got the feeling that I'm ditching their school to go to yours."

"Very well. Since that's the way you feel about Death Valley Boys High School, why don't you help our fellow Pravda Girls High School over there with a little project? Would you like that?" she asked while pointing out the window at Pravda's school ship far across the way.

"Help them with what?"

Shiho showed Sentinel a paper, "I hear their newspaper club needs a new member. They might give you a position on the team."

The boy's eyes widened, "Wait a second. I'm a boy, though."

"I am aware of that. However, I could tell the Headmistress of Pravda High to let you through so that you could help out. Haven't you heard we have made an alliance with your Tankery Team and their Tankery Team?"

"Really? Well, maybe I will check it out." Sentinel said rising up from his bedside.

"Not right now, my friend. Tomorrow, perhaps, would be better." Shiho said.

"Okay, I guess will." Sentinel said with a smile.

"Now get ready for bed Alex, its late already." Shiho said grabbing her coat she put on the door handle.

She then closed the door on the way out. Sentinel layed his head down on his pillow and started to wonder what to write in the coming day. Outside, Shiho was standing at the door in the hall with a grim expression on her face. She knew that she had lied about the part with the tankery teams alluding together, but in the end, Shiho kept her mouth shut on the subject. The next day, Erika was walking down the hall when she noticed Shiho finishing a conversation with Sentinel. Recognizing him from the day before, she came up as he was leaving.

"What are you doing here?" Erika asked with a frown.

"I have been informed that Pravda needs a new member for their Press Club." Sentinel answered.

"Ha! You, with a bunch of girls." she laughed.

"Yes, Miss Nishizumi said she can fix me up with a spot there, since I wouldn't be returning to my-"

"That's hard to believe." Erika interrupted.

"No, it's true. See, take a look at these documents." Sentinel said handing her a pink piece of paper.

She snatched it out of his hands and carefully skimmed it. When Erika got closer to the bottom, she began to read it at a more slower pace. In her mind, she began to think, "If this is really true, then I could use this to my advantage."

She handed Sentinel the paper and turned her back to him.

"I'm still working on an idea, though." Sentinel said folding the paper and placing it in his pocket.

Out of the blue, a dastardly plan popped into Erika's head. She smiled deviously before turning around again.

"Hey, you want to hear something interesting?"

"Sure I guess?" Sentinel shrugged, "What is it?"

"Walk with me and I'll tell you along the way." Erika said.

The school day was pretty normal on Death Valley High. With the exceptional girl in a class here and there, everything seemed pretty normal. Until, Tankery Practice came around. When the teams began to walk towards the garages where the armor is stored, they were stopped by two school girls and a middle aged woman with glasses on.

The woman cleared her throat, "We are sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm afraid that you boys are not allowed into the tank garages today."

"What? What a minute, how come?" Kyle asked.

The woman began to speak again, "The school has temporarily closed down your boys tank garage, until some things are sorted out."

The Death Valley Tankery Team looked at each other with confusion. Nobody told them about the garages being closed down. A second later, The Instructor for the boys Tankery Team came walking up to the huge double doors of the garage. With a friendly greeting and keys in hand, he prepared to unlock the doors. Suddenly, the woman stopped him.

"Sir, what do you think your doing?" she asked in a stern voice.

The Instructor stopped and took his keys out of the lock.

"Unlocking the door. I have to let my students-"

"I'm sorry Sir, but I was informed that no one is allowed into this garage." said the woman.

"Hold on, how come I wasn't informed about this?" he asked.

"I apologize, Sir. I cannot let anybody through these doors. There is some construction going on in there that must not be disturbed."

The Instructor told all of his students to go out to the field for class, leaving the woman and the two schoolgirls at her sides behind. When everyone got situated out in the Training Fields, everyone began throwing questions at their Instructor."

"I have no idea about what kind of construction that they're doing in there, but it appears that they don't want us to see what it is."

"Sir, can't you just ask for authorization to go through?" asked one of the boys.

"I can try later today, but I might not be able to get us into the garages for a while." The Instructor replied.

In the crowd, Drake turned to his team members.

"Doesn't all this sound strange to you?"

Davian scratched his head, "Too strange. It sounds like something weird is going on in those garages."

"How are we going to find out whats going on in there?" Jonathan asked.

"We can do a little observing from a distance and see if we could catch something." Ian suggested.

"Good idea." Kyle replied, "That way, we could find out for yourselves."

Later that day, the five climbed to the top floor of the nearest class building next to the Tankery Garages. When they looked through the windows, their eyes fell upon a shocking sight.

"They're tearing it down." Ian gasped.

"I don't believe that they are dismantling our garage!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Calm down, guys. Now this is not the time to freak out." said Drake, "We are going to get the rest of the team and we are going to sort this out.

"Someone should take a picture of this for evidence." Davian proposed.

"Allow me." Drake offered pulling out his phone.

Later that evening, Drake and his team called all members of the Tank Fighting Club to meet in the Cafeteria. They were making a plan to somehow get all their vehicles off of the campus and return back to the compound in the desert. Some though that the idea was absurd and that it might not work all together, but they agreed to go with it anyways. Later that night, each of the 25 teams began to sneak out of their dorms one at a time, until they were all out front of the tank garages.

"Listen up everybody and huddle around." Thomas whispered.

Drake joined in, "Here's the plan. You all have your crew and the keys to your tanks. We are going to grab our tanks, start them up and slip out of here before we are noticed."

"What if someone hears us?" Cody wondered.

"That's why we are leaving one at a time, in order to make it not look so obvious."

"Works for me." Cody returned.

The teams snuck around the sides of the giant hangar and slipped through a giant hole that was made during the construction hours. Once inside the garage, the team began to formate into their squads and slowly got into position. With a heavy hammer that the boys located near the huge metal doors, they smashed the lock that was holding the double doors closed. Everyone waited for the echoing of the smash to end before continuing.

"Let's hope that nobody heard too much of that." Davian whispered.

The first of the tanks began to leave one by one, each leaving ten minutes before the other one did. Soon, the garage was empty and the tanks belonged to the boys once more. On the way out of campus, Drake and his E-100 team quickly picked up Eagle Eye, who snuck out of bed to meet them for the escape.

"Looks like the exodus has arrived." Eagle Eye greeted with a smile.

"Nice to see you too." Drake saluted, "Now, get in here. We need to go now."

Like creatures of the night, the tanks stormed out of the city, through the suburbs, onto the desert road and back to the compound. To there surprise, the property had not yet been compromised or disturbed by other outside forces. Once settled in, they all unpacked and settled themselves in.

Morning came a few hours later and with morning, came the outcry. Many of the students and school faculty noticed that the tank garage was breached and that all the tanks had vanished. Shiho Nishizumi herself came down to the Death Valley High Vessel to see the situation herself. To no surprise, she knew that tank theft was enviable in the situation that the schools were in and that stealing could happen.

Aboard Pravda's Vessel, Katyusha was walking down a path outside school grounds when she saw her companion sitting alone on a bench. She greeted Nonna and sat down next to her.

"Did you sleep alright last night?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I had this strange dream and I don't know a lot about it." Katyusha said back cheerfully.

"Perhaps I could interpret it to you? Dreams are always strange in some way or another." Nonna said looking out towards the horizon.

Katyusha positioned herself comfortably on the bench and began to tell the tale.

"Last night, I dreamed about the countryside and a small farm. A farmer had many animals on his property and he was really happy about it. One day, there were a brunch of pigs and hogs that were hungry because they didn't get another to eat the night before. So, they called out to their wolf friends to tell all the sheep grazing in the fields to give them any leftovers that they had."

"Wolves, huh?" Nonna thought.

"The strange thing about them is that they had tan and dark green fur!" Katyusha exclaimed, "I tell you, it's so strange."

"It definitely sounds like it." Nonna replied.

Katyusha continued, "The wolves went out and brought back lots of food that the sheep had and gave it to the pigs and hogs for them to eat. However, they told them that there was a group of stubborn rams, who refused to give them anything. This made the pigs and hogs really upset. Then, day after day, the pigs would ask a black and white cat to go out and ask them for leftovers to give to the pigs, but they still refused."

Nonna was deep in thought when she turned back to Katyusha.

"After all this happened, the cat decided to write a story about what he experienced and showed it to the others to read. The pigs got so outraged by this, that their leaders, two pink and yellow boars with two smaller brown and grey boars, called up all the wolves in the nearby cave to help them take down the rams. They all crept into the fields at 3:22 in the afternoon, while all the sheep and rams were taking their nap. Upon sight of them, the wolves and boars charged at the rams. Just about as the first wolf and ram were about to hit each other, I woke up and it was time to go to school."

"Wow, that seems interesting, Comrade." Nonna added, "I don't know really what to say?"

"I know right, but maybe I'll solve its mystery." Katyusha said getting up from the bench, "Now Tankery Class is going to start anytime now and we need to be there."

About halfway up the road or so, Katyusha turned back to her accomplice.

"Nonna! Give me a ride!" Katyusha demanded.

Nonna accepted the order and they both went on their merry way. While walking with her leader on her shoulders, Nonna began to ponder about the dream and what it really meant.


	11. Chapter 11 - Problems On Top of Problems

Chapter 11 - Problems On Top of Problems

* * *

Once Panzerkraft Practice has ended for Pravda that day, Katyusha came up to her T-34-85 Gunner and began to congradulate her for her excellent aim with the cannon.

"You did a fine job out there. I can see how your accuracy has improved ten full." Katyusha congratulated.

"Thanks, Comrade Katyusha." the girl said in return, "Do you think that we could take on that school below us again?"

"Perhaps, but we need more firepower." Katyusha boldy answered.

"We have our IS-2 and KV-2 though. Is that good enough?"

"Yes, of course it is. What I meant to say, is that we need more power to our shells. I recall thoses boys down there using a sort of heavy heat shell during the competition, but I was never aware of what type it was they were using." Katyusha addressed.

"Maybe the people below might have some shells of that type we could use?" the girl said pointing below the surface.

"I'll try to convince the Headmistress to call up a vote for shell count. If we're successful, we can turn their own weapons against them in the next match of the tournament." Katyusha answered.

"Comrade, what if it dosen't work?" asked the Gunner.

Katyusha scrached her head.

"Then, we will try harder!" chanted the short captain, "We will use specialized tactics to weaken them."

On the Black Forest Training Grounds, a similar conversation was stirring up between Maho and Erika. They too, were finishing up practice for the day."

"I'm tell you, Kommandant, we need more power of our own to take down that 'Brigade of Misfits' on that vessel down there." Erika said to her captain.

"Please, can you hold off on these boys for a while, Erika? You know that at the same time that we are fighting the other school, the same time we are throwing away money all together." Maho calmly responded.

"Wasting money? What are you talking about; we are putting it to good use." Erika suddenely blurted out.

"Explain to me what good use means in your terms." asked Maho.

Erika didn't reply after she heard Maho's question. Even though Nishizumi Maho had the authority to report any student in the club without a reason, she always avoided this by coming up with a witty comeback. In this case, Erika was baffled by the question.

"Exactly, we need to hold off on this subject." Maho said walking back to her team.

Katyusha's plan reached the Headmistress of Pravda High. Afterwards, it traveled to the school's press, which Sentinel was a new member of. News began to spread out from Pravda to all of the citizens aboard Kuromorimine and Death Valley. The people of the schools began donating whatever shells they didn't want that were lying around to Pravda. However, when Pravda and Black Forest decided to ask the colony of males, they received a fiery backlash. The team of girls that were sent out from Pravda came back with the story still fresh in their minds.

"Why have you returned empty handed?" Katyusha asked while counting another batch of specialized shells.

"Comrade Katyusha, we asked them for what you ordered and told us to get lost." reported one of the girls.

"Ublyudki!" she cursed out in Russian, "Why do they make things so difficult?!"

This caused the team to back away three steps from where they were standing. Katyusha pouted and dismissed them from her presense. At the same time on Kuromorimine, Jagdpanther-Chan and her team walked up to Erika on top of her Tiger II and told her their experience with the boys.

"Why don't you have any shells with you? Were you successful at all?" Erika asked.

"Negative." Jagdpanther-Chan answered, "They told us that we are like blind sheep only following orders from a foolish sheppard."

"Why, those little punks!" Erika exclaimed while turning red in the face. After calming down, she dismissed the team from her presence.

When Erika's thoughts raced back to Sentinel and the Pravda Press Team, an idea clicked into her brain. She called Katyusha from Pravda for a visit after school was over. Then, after she hung up, Erika remembered what Maho told her about the shells. In a frenzy, she rounded up all the shells that she could carry in her arms and tossed them into a small compartment under her tank. She slammed the slid down tightly and looked around the garage, fearing Maho would catch her doing the wrong thing.

"I know the Kommandant always goes straight home after school ends, so I shouldn't run into her."

When the school day ended, Erika got ready to travel over to Pravda's school vessel. However, she suddenly realized that the Tiger II was school property and that she couldn't take it out just because she wanted to. Erika remembered the FA 223 Drache Helicopter that the school owned and decided to fly over to Pravda using that. During her flight, Erika flew above Death Valley High's urban zone and looked at all the tall buildings and skycrapers.

"I wonder if this school is rich or something, because we don't have that many skyscrapers on our ship."

A few minutes later, Erika made it over to Pravda High and landed the helicopter out on the schools field. After arriving at the location Katyusha appointed to her, Erika sat herself down at a table and waited. The double doors on the far side of the room flung open, as Katyusha and Nonna entered the room.

"It feels like I have only seen you since yesterday." Katyusha welcome.

"Yes. The match was only two days ago." Erika answered.

The two began to engage in small talk while Nonna served them tea and sweets. While discussing other subjects beside Tankery, Erika brought up Sentinel.

"Speaking of poems, how's that new boy for the press working out for you?" Erika asked.

"I'm not too sure, since I don't hear about the objectives of other elective classes." said Katyusha.

"Well…"

Erika spotted Nonna standing near the window listening to their conversation, so she leaned forward across the table towards Katyusha. Both of them began to secretly talk about their new plan.

"That boy used to be a student at Death Valley Boys High, so maybe we can get him into their compound for answers." Erika whispered into Katyusha's ear.

"Ohh, how clever of you." she whispered back.

"What are you two talking about?" Nonna asked stepping away from the window.

"Oh…Um, we were discussing about how…"

When Nonna heard a knock at the double doors, she walked away from the window to answer it. When she was sure that Nonna was occupied, Erika silently flexed her arm and pointed towards an imaginary bicep. Then, she pointed to her bright white teeth and made a big fake smile. Nonna finished her conversation with the person at the door and turned her attention back to the two girls at the table.

"Sorry for getting distracted. What were you two talking about again?"

"Eh...we were talking about how tough, yet cute looking those boys were at the tournament." Katyusha returned, hoping for a positive response.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that they were cute, I would rather say that they looked professional." Nonna said.

"Don't correct me!" Katyusha shouted while making a fist and gnashing her teeth.

The tall dark haired girl apologized and asked if the two were done with their cups. Both of them agreed as Nonna took their cups away and left the room.

"If I would make an exception, you should go get him and leave it to me for the explaining." Erika said while fixing her hair.

Later on that evening, Drake and his friends were sitting around the fire and talking about random subjects, when they saw the main gate open to let someone into the compound. They were even more surprised when they saw that it was Sentinel.

"Wow, I never thought that I would see his face again." Ian smiled.

"Neither would I. He hasn't been here for days." Kyle added.

They all got up with a few others and began to greet their friend back to the compound. In the mess of boys, one of the Artillery Team members came forth and began to protest against Sentinel.

"That guy is a traitor!" he shouted.

At that moment, everyone nearby got quiet and looked at Sentinel with blank stares.

The artillery member continued, "He's working with the enemy on a secret plan."

Sentinel raised an eyebrow, "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not affiliated with them at all."

"Really, then tell me why I didn't see you return to school with the rest of us?" asked the boy.

"Yeah and why did you stay behind on the Flight Strip with that brown haired woman? another boy asked.

"I don't know, I just-"

His words were stopped by another vial jest from the same boy.

"Get out of here and tell your Communist friends up there to go back home to Russia. Also, tell those Fascist Feminists up there to collect their ideaologys and get lost!"

"Hey, shut up! Leave him alone!" Thomas shouted over the crowd.

"Don't blame him because he was scared, let's talk this out." Drake also shouted.

"No! I'm done with this reasoning crap! I say it's time to resist and fight back!"

Some of the others shouted out with him. Drake looked back and noticed that Sentinel had sprinted out of the compound. Drake pushed his way through the crowd towards the giant metal doors, but the boy at the controls was with the revolutionists and locked Drake in with everyone else. Drake felt a shock go down his spine when the other boys started yelling at him and told him that he was a coward if he had helped Sentinel. Drake made his way along the wall behind one of the Compound Buildings and hid behind the wall.

"This is outrageous! We are all falling apart!"

Two more days passed after the incident. Sentinel kept continuously coming up to the compound and kept asking to be allowed back in. However, no matter how many times he begged, the gate keepers always denied him. On one of those days, Sentinel went back to the Press Club and began to furiously type up the print for the next paper. He explained how the group of boys as a whole were nothing but a brunch of ignorant idiots, who gave Pravda and Kuromorimine a bad name. When the press came out to the public, the schools were receiving the papers first. When Erika received her copy, she went into an all out state of rage. She then left her school in the evening and went out to where no one was around and began to scream at the top of her lungs. This followed by a session of rants and cursing that would make anybody's hairs stand up on the back of their necks.

When Maho read the headlines, she immediately ran to her mother and told her to find a way to end the madness. Shiho only stood up and stormed out of the room, leaving her oldest daughter flabbergasted.

"At least Miho is not around to experience this." she quietly said to herself.

Nonna was alone in her dorm while she read her copy of the Pravda Paper and thought to herself, "Where did I remember hearing about this?"

All the council members from the three schools decided that the use of Tankery on the Death Valley Boys High School Ship was dangerous and was to be considered outlawed to them and their citizens. This caused outrage in the compound, to the point where the law enforcement was sent in to put a stop to it. But, the result was an overthrow of the police in that sector and a spark of revolution in the hearts of most of the Tankery team. The other half of the team, including Drake, Cody, Thomas and their crews, plus a few others, became recluse and soon got dragged down with the rest of them. Shiho called the truce between the three schools off and helped Pravda High hold onto the security of Death Valley.

Drake and all the members on his team stayed in and around their tents for most of the days following after this. They talked on and on about what the future might bring and how much they missed their families back in the United States.

"Do you think that there's a way to escape from all of our troubles? Kyle asked.

"Honestly bro, I have no clue what to do now." said Davian sadly.

"Hey, don't feel so down, guys. We still are able to help each other out, even in these dark times." Ian said in a positive voice.

"He's right." Jonathan said stretching his feet.

The five stared out passed the compound wall and noticed a huge patch of dark storm clouds coming their way.

"Oh, great. Another problem to worry about." Kyle groaned.

"What do you think, Drake?" Davian asked.

Drake wasn't listening though, he was off in his own world, imaging Military Jets flying by and blue skies turning black. His hands were in the form of an imaginary rifle and he was making fake noises to himself. Then, he lifted his head and saw the confused faces of his friends staring back at it.

"Just ignore me, please." Drake replied.

"I miss home." Ian said while burning a stick in the fire.

When word got out around the base that Pravda and Black Forest were coming to attack, they all got into battle formation and dug trenches out of the dirt for the tanks to take position in. In the midst of the panic, Drake and Cody were reading a Pravda Newspaper that managed to have floated into the compound a couple days earlier.

"These are lies, we are not all corrupted." Drake said in frustration, "Another problem that we must deal with."

"That's the problem, we are all in this mess together." Cody said.

He folded the paper and threw it into a small firehole that the boys dug out for disposing of quick trash on the battlefield.

"Hey, do you know what they did to that loud mouth artillery gunner yesterday?" Drake asked anxiously.

"I recall him being taken by the Police during the riots." Cody answered back.

"Good Riddance to him." Drake murmured.

Drake walked back to his group at the E-100.

"Listen up, I don't know exactly, but sometime around now they'll be coming over the horizon. So, it's best to stay on high alert."

The rest of the afternoon was hot; the sun shone down through the dark grey clouds, yet not a single droplet of rain fell. Thomas was sitting around when an air raid alarm went off, followed by all the boys getting into their tanks and dug out trenches. Drake was napping when the sound awoken him and reminded him of the nightmare that he had a while back. On the horizon, Katyusha and the entire Pravda High Tankery team came storming forward towards the enemy. One of the T-34's charged ahead of the others and started firing at the trenches. The Chi-Ha crew emerged out and began to charge straight at the enemy T-34. Nonna checked her watch and a pair of green numbers spelled out the time 3:22 PM. Her eyes widened as she remembered the dream that Katyusha told her about.

"My God, it's a dream come true." she said to herself.

The sound of grinding metal was heard as the two opposing tanks rammed into each other, immobilizing themselves. The Trouble was back on the Homefront, but this time, they were here to stay.


	12. Chapter 12 - Operation: Steel Trap

Chapter 12 - Operation: Steel Trap

* * *

It wasn't long before the whole compounds front face was covered in dust. Everyone was in a stationary position, while trying to hold off against the wave of Pravda tanks that charged towards them. The sound of shells zooming past each other filled the air and the blast of explosions boomed across the desert landscape. Katyusha ordered her troop's into two directions in order to surround the compound in hopes for better push. However, everywhere they looked, they found a black tank aiming its cannon at them. The five artillery teams were located within the base, firing at the enemy whenever the opportunity came to them. Meanwhile on the frontline, the E-100, along with the IS and T-29, kept continuous fire on the enemies that came into their sights; Jonathan called to Drake from below.

"I thought you said that we would get another loader besides me?"

"Yeah, about that…" Drake nervously chuckled.

Jonathan groaned and prepared another shell for the chamber. Outside, a shell flew by Drakes head and hit the dirt area behind him.

"Damn, that was too close!" he cursed to himself.

"Its not safe out there, Commander." Ian replied, "Get in here where its safe."

"Fine, I will use the periscope."

Two of Pravda's T-34's laid smoking out in the middle of the firing, the crew hunched down for any impact that came from either faction's side. When Katyusha noticed Nonna and her crew's IS-2 lagging behind all the others, she told her tanks Radio Operator to hand her the microphone.

"Nonna!" she snapped," Get up here with the others!"

"Commander, I believe I have a better idea." Nonna suggested.

"You may be second in-command, but that doesn't mean you can deny my orders!" Katyusha barked back.

Nonna still did not follow her commander, instead she looked over to her left and noticed a nearby hill that would serve perfectly for the type of job she will perform.

"Team, shift left and head up there." commanded Nonna pointing in the direction of the hill.

Her tank drifted away from the main platoon and climbed up the steep pass to the ridge top. Once they reached the top, her crew began firing shots down upon Death Valleys tank trenches. This caused Death Valleys T-28 Russian Medium to move out of cover and get shot. A shell from Death Valleys replacement VK 36.01 (H) penetrated the side of a rock on the cliffside and made it tumble down the hill towards the oncoming Pravda tanks, causing their formation to split apart and separate. Nonna fired a shell into the front of the E-100, but it bounced off.

"Whoa, that was too close!" Kyle exclaimed leaning back in his driver seat.

"We're like sitting ducks in these dugouts." Cody called to Thomas over the radio.

"Just keep firing!" he shouted back.

"This ought to scare the living daylights out of them." said the Radio Operator in the American M7 Preist artillery.

The SPG fired a shell into the air and watched as it landed in between two T-34-85's and blew them over onto their sides. The other four artilleries fired as well and tried to land a few lucky shots themselves. The KV-2 came in front of the Leopard and the Type 5 Chi-Ri and blew a large hole into the lower part of the Type 5 Chi-Ri, immobilizing it. The Leopard shot a couple rounds into the frontal box of the KV-2, but only got a shell back to the engine compartment. The heavy turned the Leopards engine into a piece of Swiss Cheese. Katyusha saw the destruction so far and realized that they were outnumbered 15 to 25.

"Where are those blasted artillery guns at!?" Katyusha shouted.

"I'm locating their positions now." Nonna reported.

From her position, Nonna could see the the five SPG's that were stationed inside the compound. She switched places with her Gunner, so she would be able to snipe. After awhile, she decided to fire at Death Valley Highs Bishop. Just as she was about to fire, Nonna's senses began to kick in.

"Drvier! Fall back!" she exclaimed.

The IS-2 was thrown into reverse and started to drive backwards and away from the ridge. Seconds later, shots began to rain down upon the cliffside and tried to hit the heavy Pravda tank. When Nonna and her team had safetly made it behind cover, a message came over the radio.

"Attention all tanks, pull back and prepare for retreat!" Katyusha ordered.

Upon hearing this, the Pravda crews began to turn around and flee from the direction of the compound. The 105 leFH18B2 fired a round into the sky and watched as it came pummeling down upon the back of Katyusha's T-34-85, causing it to stall.

"O, Черт! Did they immobilze us?" asked the T-34-85's Gunner.

"Let me check!" shouted Katyusha, "Turn this turret around just in case they are following us."

When she looked behind her, Katyusha found nothing, except a large dust cloud that formed from their speedy escape. Nonna and her IS-2 came chugging up next to Katyusha's tank.

"Commander, what happened?" she asked.

"Our tank isn't running, that's what's happened!" Katyusha yelled in anger, "I have no idea if it's going to work or not."

"Allow us to assist." said the T-34-85 Loader pulling out a toolbox.

"Keep your eyes peeled in case they're following us."

"Da, I will cover you."

Back at the compound, the boys were cheering over their victory against Pravda, while also watching as the girls in the broken tanks tried to get their vehicles into working condition. The boys laughed while watching the girls stumble to get their machines into working order again.

"Imagine how far they have to drive back like that." said one of the Matilda's crew members.

"Outstanding work, Gentlemen! We obviously can stand our ground!" Eagle Eye happily announced over the compounds loudspeaker.

"Okay, let's bring it in. Keep your tanks where they are at now." said Thomas.

"It should be getting dark soon, let's warm up around the firepits." Drake told his crew.

"Yes, please. I can feel the cold wind coming our way already." Cody said from across the way.

While walking through the compound, Drake noticed the M5 Stuart team staring up their tank while talking to Eagle Eye.

"Why are you guys leaving?" he asked.

"Just in case we need a little more strengh for our defenses, we are sending out a scouting team to see where the enemy is coming from." Eagle Eye explained.

"The only time I would think that we would need that is if they infiltrate the compounds walls." said another boy, "Still, it's better safe than sorry."

Eagle Eye turned to Drake and his crew, "We might need one more crew to come with us. Are you in?"

"Sure, why not?" said Davian.

"I really don't care, but I'll come along for the ride." said Kyle.

"Looks like majority rules. Let's roll out."

"Great." smiled Eagle Eye, "You don't need your tank because we are all riding on the Stuart."

With that, Drake and team jumped onto the M5 Stuart with Eagle Eye and the other crew. The Light Tank only got a little ways out before the Driver slammed on the brakes. Drake and the others slid forward.

"Woah, take it easy up there!" Jonathan hollered.

"Sorry. Forgot you fellas were up there." shouted one of the members from within the tank.

"Guys, I just remembered, we have another Patrol Run tonight." Davian suddenely blurted out.

"What? Why didn't you tell us that before?" asked Jonathan.

"Oh well, we will probably be back before then." Drake sighed.

"Right. Now, when we get to our location, I need you guys to help unpack a radio and a few other things." Eagle Eye instructed.

"Not a problem." said Ian, "We will help anyway we can."

The brigade of boys prepared to set out across the sandy landscape. After arriving at their destination, they all began to unpack and line up next to each other. Eagle Eye came forward with his notebook in one hand and a fountain pen in the other.

"Here's the deal, guys. We need to get all this stuff up there."

In the direction that he pointed his finger in, they learned about where they needed to go.

"That's really high, though. Are you sure that's where we have to go?" Kyle complained.

Eagle Eye crossed his arms, "Hey, you chose to come. So, you have to contribute too."

After all the pieces of gear had been removed from the tank, the boys began to trail up the mountainside for a better view of their target. The intense heat of the afternoon shining down on the rocks caused the boys to faulter. Beads of sweat were pouring down their faces as the boys reached the top of the mountain.

"Okay, let's set this obsevation post up."

Working together as a team, the brigade began to plug cords and wires into a generator that they have brought along with them. Eventually, they placed a radio on a table near the M5 Stuart and began to relay the teams coordinates to the compound. Drake and Eagle Eye hid behind a rock overviewing the school vessels urban zone. The white, grey and colored buildings shined in the afternoon sky, causing vision to become a problem.

"I can't see anything here." Drake said. "Should we reposition?"

"Sure, move out." Eagle Eye whispered back.

Once they've repositioned, the two began their scouting report.

Eagle Eye cleared his throat, "Call out targets and I'll write them down."

"Copy that." Drake murmured in concentration.

He acquired his radio that he had on his belt.

"Come in, Ian. Do you read?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, I hear you loud and clear." Ian answered.

"Fantastic. Prepare to take notes on what I repeat."

The brigade waited a while before Eagle Eye noticed movement in the distanse.

"Captain, concentrate on that sector for me."

"Already on it." Drake whispered, "Take note of what I say."

The Pravda platoon reached the limits of the Suburbs area. Katyusha ordered the teams to halt while she made a quick call to Erika, who recently gave her phone number to Katyusha for their close alliance. She noticed a nearby Payphone Booth and walked towards it with Nonna trailing behind. The short leader tried to reach the phone herself, but the pole was taller than usual and she couldn't reach it.

"Nonna! Help me with this!" Katyusha squeaked.

"Comrade, I'm sorry to say, but this machine requires American money to operate."

Katyusha began to throw a fit, "Where in the world am I going to get a bunch of American coins or whatever they call it!?"

"It appears that the entire platoon has stopped at a Payphone Booth." reported Drake.

"How copy?" Ian whispered.

"A Payphone Booth. They've stopped at a Payphone Booth."

"Why would they stop there?" Davian wondered.

"What else?" said the M5 Stuart Commander, "Obiviously, to make a phone call to someone."

While searching around, Katyusha stumbled across a wet baggy of quarters that were hidden in the street gutter. Rejoiced by her lucky discovery, she returned to Nonna in a prideful manner.

"Look who just found some money?" Katyusha boasted.

"I'm impressed, let me assist you with those." smiled the long haired Vice Captain.

While Nonna slid the quarters in with one hand, she grabbed the phone with the other. Katyusha instructed her apprentice to punch in the number that she read off. On the hilltop, the boys continued watching their targets like a hawk patrolling over its prized eggs. After she was finished, Nonna handed the phone down to her leader. Katyusha stomped her foot on the ground nervously, waiting for an answer.

"What do you guys see?" Ian asked over the radio again.

Drake shushed him as he stared through the binoculars.

"Right. Take note that she is on the phone now and waiting for somebody to answer." Drake whispered.

"I got it." Eagle Eye responded.

Just as Katyusha's patience was about to run thin, she heard the sound of somebody on the machine. The short leader gasped as she placed the phone up to her ear.

"Hello? Hello, who is calling?" said a girls voice.

"Itsumi-San, it is me, Katyusha."

"Oh, I see." Erika answered, "Please report to me on how the assault went. Were you successful?"

"No, I'm afraid that they're getting smarter about our strategies." Katyusha replied.

She heard Erika make a deep angry growl on the other side of the phone line. Katyusha felt a hint of fear roll across her.

"Excuses me for a minute." Katyusha said lowering the pay phone from her mouth.

"What's the matter? You look worried?" Nonna asked.

"I'm sort of scared. Ever since we've taken this ship, Itsumi-San has been acting more bitter towards everyone. It makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Should I handle this conversation for you?" Nonna offered, "I might be able to handle this."

"If you can." Katyusha said handing over the phone.

Eagle Eye and Drake were now waiting with anticipation for the next move of the two Pravda leaders.

"Hello? Is there anybody there?" Nonna asked politely into the phone.

"Hold on a second, who's this?" Erika asked with suspicion.

"My name is Nonna, I am the Second-In Command of Pravda Highs team."

"Oh, yes. I recall seeing you before, but why are you on the phone? Where's Captain Katyusha at?"

"She's preoccupied with something right now, but I believe that we can discuss the subject that is at hand." Nonna suggested.

As she was listening to Erika ramble on over Pravda's defeat against Death Valley High, Nonna looked out towards the hills. While viewing the dry and dusty terrain, her eyes suddenly caught Drake moving along the rocks. Drake froze when he realized that he had been spotted. However, instead of alerting her allies, Nonna turned her back to him.

"Why have you stopped moving?" Eagle Eye whispered.

Drake slowly turned around, "Lets get out of here. I think that we have done enough reconnaissance for today."

"Fine." Eagle Eye answered shrugging his shoulders, "Give me your radio so I can tell the others to pack up."

Drake tossed his pocket radio to Eagle Eye as he began to creep back in his direction. With one last look, Drake took note of Nonna's face before she turned to Katyusha. The boys slipped out of sight unnoticed and undetected.

Meanwhile, at Kuromorimine Girls High School, Maho was sitting with her mother in her office. The two were silently sipping their evening tea, when Maho noticed the sun slowly setting behind a patch of dark clouds.

"I wonder if we are going to get another storm?" Maho wondered.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Shiho answered, "Besides, we are safe from any sea storm that comes from below."

There was a long pause before a vibrating noise filled the quiet room. Maho peeked at her phone on the table to see Erika's number flashing on the screen.

"Please, excuse me, Mother." Maho said lowering her cup from her hands.

"Be brief about it." Shiho returned.

Waking out into the hall, Maho answered the call.

"Erika? What is it?"

"I have received news that Pravda's forces failed to infiltrate the enemy's compound today." Erika reported.

"Why is that a concern to you?" Maho asked raising an eyebrow.

"Kommandant, this failure only deprives our teams chances of eliminating the defensive stronghold of our enemy." Erika firmly replied.

Maho frowned when she heard this. She began to ponder on the idea of telling Erika her true thoughts about Death Valley and its Tankery Team. Instead, she asked why her Vice Captain was calling her once more.

"I propose a late night raid upon their hideout. That way, we get them while they are sleeping."

Maho began to raise her voice, "Listen to me. I'm not in the mood and they are doing nothing to harm us, so why should we harm them?"

"Kommandant, they-"

"I do not want to hear your complaints." Maho snapped before hanging up the phone.

From behind her, Maho heard Shiho open the door.

"Your friend has a good point for why you should go out tonight. You will lead your forces against these Ignorant Teenagers and you will turn them in to justice." Shiho instructed.

Maho stuttered, "Mother."

"The council claims that the school ships law enforcement had failed to contain them. Also, our alliance, Pravda Girls High School, cannot be able to achieve victory unless we give them assistance. You will go out later tonight with the whole Black Forest Peak team and you will try your best to reduce the enemies numbers, is that clear?"

"Yes." Maho repeated, "I will help you stop these rebels."

"Your decision is wise. Now get ready to gather your gear, and try not to be out too late. If you do, you might mess up your sleep pattern."

When the two departed from each other, Shiho walked to the administration desk and asked if she could use the intercom. After she was granted access to it, Shiho announced her message.

"Attention, all Black Forest Peak Panzerkraft participants, please report immediately to the tank garages. I say again, all Black Forest Peak Panzerkraft participants, please report immediately to the tank garages. Thank you for your cooperation."

When the girls had all gathered in the tank hangar, Maho got on top of her tank and began to speak.

"My friends, our Tankery Instructor says that we must eliminate this male threat at all costs. We must try to do what we can to make this work, even if we must barge straight into their compound and turn each and every one of them over to the law."

She sighed and continued speaking, "Now, prepare your vehicles and let's get moving as soon as we can. I'm pretty sure you all don't want to be up too late tonight, because its unhealthy for you. We must always be alive and well when we participate as a team."

Maho concluded her speech and lowered herself into her Tiger I. Within the crowds of girls, Erika began to snicker to herself, when she heard that the team now had permission to plow down the walls of the compound and finally overcome their foes for good.

* * *

END OF ACT FOUR


	13. Chapter 13 - A Rough Night

ACT FIVE

Chapter 13 - A Rough Night

* * *

Right before they were about to be deployed, the Death Valley High Night Patrol met up around a big map on a table outside. Once Drake and Thomas saw that all those who were going out have arrived, the two began the debriefing.

"Okay, according from the calculations from our last patrol, most of the action appeared out here in the far northern part of the ship." Thomas said while placing a sharp needle on that part of the map.

"I was wondering if we could change our route a bit?" suggested the Commander of one of the M4 Shermans.

"Hmm… We could possibly, but what if the enemy sends out a full battalion of tanks like the incident we had earlier today?" Cody asked.

"That's why we're taking the off-road paths, so we don't have to risk ourselves like that on the main road." said Thomas.

"Now if I recall, there was a nice camping spot between two big mesa's where we can wait at and perhaps use for a better vantage point for attacking." chimed in the Leopard Commander.

"See, this could match a good rotation route when underfire." Drake mentioned.

"No, you'll lead us back to the main road and we can't afford that." Thomas answered with a raised voice.

"Gee, sorry pal." Drake replied while raising his hands up to chest.

"Anyways, we need to take assault this way." Thomas ordered, traced his finger on the map back to the location of the needle he placed, "If the situation becomes too big to handle, we'll go over to the mesa holdout."

"Wait, that means we would have to go all the way around the compound to avoid the main road." Drake said.

"Exactly." Thomas said, "It's perfect for this sort of situation."

"Seriously, that means we will have to drive two miles down the ship and turn around to only drive three more miles back to the next location on the opposite side-"

"Quit complaining! If you would like to make your own plan, go out on your own!" shouted Thomas from across the table.

"Hey bud, calm down!" bursted out the Chi-Ha Commander.

Thomas stopped the discussion and told everyone to pack up and roll out. When Drake reached his crew, he told them about the planning procedure and how Thomas reacted to his ideas.

"What do you guys think about him?" Drake asked.

"Personally, I think he's breaking under the pressure of this war." said Jonathan.

"You're STILL calling it that?" Davian questioned.

"I have since I've explained it to you guys on the second day we were here."

"You have to give Jonathan credit; he's been giving us some pretty reasonable answers to our questions." Ian said.

"Lets face it; we appear to be locked in a stalemate with the other two schools. Someone, though, is going to break that barrier eventually." Drake predicted.

"I can't wait for it. Do you know when that will happen?" Ian wondered.

"I'm afraid I don't." Drake answered, "It's just a theory. We can discuss this later, let's get moving. Before we embark, it's best if we shouldn't take the E-100, in order to prevent ourselves from losing our most well armored vehicle."

"Good idea, should I ask for the Jagdpanther again?" Davian suggested, "They might let us have it."

"Guess so, that's if they let you."

Once Davian ran to fetch the T.D. from the other group, Eagle Eye came over to Thomas and his squad.

"You about ready to mobilize?" he asked.

"Yeah. We're just waiting for everybody else to get ready first."

"Do you mind if I keep a radio transmission with your patrol?" Eagle Eye insisted to the others.

"Why not, you will need this map though, it will help you see the exact locations of our objectives." Thomas said while stepping onto the front of his teams IS.

"Not a problem, I'll keep it handy." Eagle Eye saluted.

"Umm…Right, carry on then."

A few minutes later, Davian drove up to the rest of his crew with the Jagdpanther and watched as they all hopped on. Everyone quickly packed inside it and switched positions with each other. Afterwards, they drove up to the gate with the others and lined up in a single file. The giant metal gates slowly opened up and the team of eight tanks went storming out into the desert. Just as they began to turn off the main road, Thomas came over the radio.

"Listen up, Eagle Eye will be our main overwatch, have him on your radio feed for updates." Thomas ordered.

"Solid Copy." Cody said.

The teams met up next to each other at the same spot they were on their first patrol and started to skim the expanse of land between a giant landmasses in front of them and their tanks. Then, they waited for the first hostile vehicle to appear.

Miles away on the main road, the entire Black Forest Peak Tankery team came storming through the dark, disturbing the quiet night air with the sound of roaring engines. Maho led the team, followed by Erika and the others behind her. Itsumi checked her watch and saw the numbers read out 8:15 PM, she then looked up to her captains hand raise up high into the air, ordering the teams to halt.

"Why are we stopping, Kommandant?" Erika asked.

"I need to survey the land first before we proceed." Maho answered.

After awhile of searching through her binoculars, she ordered her team to split into different groups. The Jagdpanzer IV's and Panthers formed into their own squads while all the others followed Erika. Maho stayed behind and told the Maus and Panzer III to wait for her go.

"I have a different type of task for you two. Both of you two need to wait here and wait until I give the word to move in, in order to make the strike more effective. Do you understand that?"

"Affirmative." confirmed both of the Tank Commanders.

Maho drove off to meet up with the others. The two tanks teams were left to sit there and wait for the word to move in. The Maus crew began digging around in the tank chests to try to find something to entertain themselves.

"Alright, who didn't bring the deck of cards?!" asked one of the Maus Loaders with a sour face.

The others shrugged their shoulders while the Loader rolled her eyes. At the holdout, the boys were still waiting for their enemies to come into sight.

"I'm bored. When are they coming?" Kyle groaned.

"Find a way to keep yourself busy, then." said Ian.

"Have you seen anyone yet?" Eagle Eye asked through the radio.

"Nope…Whoa, wait! I see something!" reported the Chi-Ha Commander.

A pack of four Jagdpanzer IV's came streaming out into the open, but they didn't notice the group of eight black tanks that were hiding in the darkness.

"All gunners are at the ready!" commanded Thomas, "Very well, choose your shots carefully."

The crews waited a while longer before Drake's Jagdpanther fired the first shot. Soon after that, everyone else joined in. The enemy Kuromorimine Tank Destroyers began to swiftly turn towards the direction of the shots being fired at them, but were too slow to turn around in time. Each and every Black Forest Jagdpanzer IV was blown out of combat in the end, with the crews shaken up inside their vehicles.

"I'm starting to think that they'll never understand that technique without failure." Cody laughed.

"Kommandant, the enemy has ambushed us!" called one of the Jagdpanzer IV crews.

Maho was over viewing a small map pamphlet before she heard the message, "Repeat your last message?"

"Repeat, we were ambushed by the enemy!"

She quickly told the girl squads the coordinates of the knocked out crews position. When Maho received the codes, she told everyone to be on full alert and to meet up with the squads. The crew of boys began to pull out and head over to the main road. In the far distance, Black Forest was arriving at their broken allies. Suddenly, out of the blue, Thomas shouted over the radio.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" Thomas hollered.

"Crossing the road." Ian said.

"One of you other crew members in there tell Drake to stop at once!"

"Sorry Thomas, but I ain't going to wait to go around." Drake reported, his hands forming two fists that shook nervously at his side.

He ordered his crew to cross the road. Thomas began to yell over the radio for Drake and his crew to return, but they refused. Cody came out of nowhere and made his crew do the same and followed Drake.

"Fine, you two go on and die! The rest of you come with me!" Thomas thundered.

"This is Eagle here, what's with all that racket?"

"Nothing, what do you need." Thomas asked in frustration.

"I was just wondering what you-"

Eagle Eye was interrupted again by Thomas, "I said it's nothing."

Eagle Eye sighed and began to report the positions of the crews.

"So far, the Hellcat crew and the Jagdpanther crew are on the left side of the river while you're coming around on the right."

"River, what river?" asked the Commander of an M4 Sherman.

"Let's just use that as a code for the main road, shall we?" Eagle Eye insisted.

"Fine, keep in contact."

Meanwhile, a boy was sitting on a wooden stool on top of the roof on one of the Compound buildings, when he looked out and saw a team of eight tan Panthers coming for the compound. Shouting was heard from below in the tank trenches and shots began to ring in the night, followed by the air raid siren emitting its eerie wail across the desert. In the distance, Drake's and Cody's squads heard the sounds and immediately made a dash back to the compound, in hopes of helping the situation that was happening there. The Jagdpanther shot at one of Kuromorimine's Panthers and knocked out one; the Hellcat shot at another and only managed to hit its track.

"Damn, I hate when that happens." grumbled the Hellcats Gunner, "Cover me for another shot."

"Negative, keep moving or they'll hit you!" Drake ordered.

The enemy Panthers began firing at the two black Tank Destroyer's, but failed to hit the two moving targets. Three other Panthers were hit by the various Death Valley High vehicles that were hiding in the trenches. Erika, Maho and the others arrived at the same time that Thomas and the rest of the scouting party returned to the compound, resulting in a head on collision of explosions and smoke.

The Luchs team began to fire multiple shots into the sides of Maho's Tiger I, but it only managed to mark tiny dents on her armored vehicle. She returned the volley, and blew out the scouting tank and its crew. Many of the tanks went around the sides of the compound to find another way in, but only got the same problem that Pravda faced; more black tanks with determined American school boys in them firing back at will. Eagle Eye, who was in one of the compound buildings, switched back and forth from radio to loudspeaker, sending messages as fast as he could to his fellow mates.

Maho called to the Panzer III and the Maus over the radio, ordering both of them to come forth and eliminate the enemy. Eagle Eye climbed up a ladder onto the roof and started searching with his binoculars for any reinforcements were coming. Unfortunately, he saw the Maus coming down the main road.

"Incoming! Super Heavy Armor spotted!"

"Time to rain down fire, boys." chuckled the SU-8 Commander.

All five artillery vehicles fired shells into the air and watched as the shots came pummeling down around the Maus. The enormous tank only drove through the smoke, shooting at the tanks in the trenches. The giant metal gate of the compound opened and allowed a large cannon to poke out of the crack. The gun shot at the lower part of the Maus and stopped it in its tracks. Those taking cover were surprised to see who fired the shot.

"Kommandant, we are immobilized, but we are also still operational." called the Maus Commander.

"Keep shooting." Maho replied while her tank slid into cover nearby.

Drake poked his head out of the Jagdpanther to see what tank had the huge cannon. He was shocked to see his crews E-100, controlled by the original Jagdpanther team, come out and push back the Black Forest Peak forces.

"Nice work team! I guess you could really handle this thing." smiled the Jagdpanther Commander to his Gunner.

The immobilized Maus fired a round into the trench that knocked out one of the VK 36.01 (H)'s. This followed by the E-100 finishing off its "Distant Cousin". Another shot was fired from far out in the desert landscape. Eagle Eye searched desperately through his binoculars for the source. When he found the enemy vehicle, he climbed down the ladder and back to the radio room below.

"Be advised, you guys got an hostile Jagdpanther sniping from afar!"

"Got it! We are locating it now!" shouted the G.W. Panther crew.

The artillery vehicles shifted their cannons in the direction of the Jagdpanther and fired into the night sky, hoping to had hit it. A few seconds later, Eagle Eyes voice came back over the radio.

"Nice work! That one is down!"

When she noticed that Kuromorimine's mighty formation was beginning to falter, Maho began to feel uneasy and started to panic.

"Team, prepare to retreat! Nothing more we can do here!" shouted Maho.

Erika finally lost her temper when she heard this and screamed out her true goal. "Times up, boys! Down with the walls!"

"Erika, retreat now! We don't have time for that!"

It was too late. Erika's Tiger II tank began charging forward towards the compound entrance, firing wild shots that penetrated the outer brick walls. The shots went through them like a bullet through paper and managed to hit a propane tank near one of the compound buildings. The explosion caused an explosion and also caused fire to stir up in the courtyard. It began to spread relentlessly, covering the building next to it in brilliant red flames.

"Fire!" screamed Eagle Eye from the roof, "There's a fire in here!"

All the boys, including Drake and his teammates, immediately left their positions to help douse out the giant raging candle. Maho and the rest of the girls stopped what they were doing and gasped at the jaw dropping sight, watching in horror. Erika drove up next to her Commander.

"For the love of...Erika! What did you do!" Maho exclaimed in anger.

"Only what must be done." Erika firmly answered and ordered her crew to drive back to the Urban Zone.

"Wait a moment! Team, help those boys put out that fire! I need to handle business!"

All the female Panzerkraft members immediately followed their new order and ran to assist the boys with their fire extinguishers. When trying to get through the main gate, a group of boys ran to the entrance and tried to close the enemy out. They screamed at the girls to leave at once or they would show deadly force against them. Without hesitation, the girls ran back to their tanks in fear.

Inside the compound, all the boys were beginning to grab their possessions inside their tents and flee from the flames, others helped by giving out fire extinguishers and a long fire hose to put out the fire. Smoke began to fill the compound, while ashes smothered the surrounding area in grey particles. Chaos flooded throughout the compound as fear engulfed everyone. Drake ran inside one of the buildings and found Eagle Eye carrying a bucket of water.

"Drop what your doing and call 911!" demanded Drake.

"Commander, what about the compound?"

Drake sadly sighed, "There's nothing we can do to keep this place protected now. We need to put these flames out as soon as we can."

"Roger that, I'll ring them up." said Eagle Eye as he dropped the bucket and ran for the telephone, "Anything else?"

Drake looked up, "Tell everyone to leave and not turn back. We need to flee before we all get in trouble with the police."

Eagle Eye nodded and ran for the phone. Drake took the bucket that his friend was carrying and ran outside to help the others. One of the two compound buildings were already halfway burned. The intense heat caused everyone to back away, causing all efforts to stop the burning come to a halt. In the distance, Eagle Eye was shouting over the intercom.

"Attention, stand clear of the flames!"

"It's over." Davian said, "We are falling apart."

"Attention, stand clear of the flames!"

"STAND CLEAR OF THE FLAMES!" squeaked a girls voice.

Nonna was awaken by a yell from across the hall from her dorm. She got out of bed to investigate the sound and discovered it coming from Katyusha's dorm. Knocking gently on the door, Katyusha greeted her Vice-Captain with sobbing.

"Oh my, what's wrong." Nonna asked.

"I had a bad dream and it was really scary." Katyusha cried.

"Come in here and tell me all about it." Nonna said while closing the door behind her.

The two sat down on the bedside and Nonna silently waited for her Commander to begin to tell the nightmare to her.

"In the same fields that I told you about, I saw a bunch of Rams and Wolves bleeding on the ground and some were crying frantically. There was a giant stove in the middle of a giant corral and it had a scary bright face on it. I felt myself being pulled closer and closer to it and I couldn't move and…and…" she broke into another tearful sob; her secondary leader held her close.

Nonna was shocked from what she just heard and remembered the animal dream that Katyusha had told her. Nonna quietly told Katyusha that she will wait a while with her and let the fear escape before going back to bed again. The two sat in the darkness of the room and waited together for the dreadful and violent nightmare to end. Little did they know, that the terrible story, was actual a dream come true.


	14. Chapter 14 - MIA

Chapter 14 - M.I.A.

* * *

After what seemed to be a long, dark and stressful night, morning finally arrived. Large smoldering clouds of smoke were still coming from the compound, which now looked like a massive junkyard. Most of the outer brick wall had collapsed during the night, one of the two buildings in the compound was completely converted into a big pile of rubble and ash, with the third of the four full of holes from tank shells. On top of that, a large percentage of the tents were now burning or reduced to scorched cloth. The sweet fragrance of oil and burning wood was in the air, with the exception of a light breeze blowing through the cold morning air. Drake and his friends, along with Cody, Thomas and his crew members were standing in the distance, looking sadly at the destroyed compound as firefighters and policemen search through the burnt remains.

"I can't believe that a simple testing error and a small accident towards a girl would lead to all this." Johnathan sighed as he sat himself down on top of the black E-100.

"At least most of the tanks and their crew members made out of here alright." Ian softly smiled.

"So, now what do we do?" Davian asked.

"Well, I guess we should search for anyone who's still out there." said Drake, "If they are, then they're blind as bats."

"Where do you think they went, Captain?" Kyle asked.

"Hopefully, not to the urban zone. All that they will find there is trouble."

"I suppose that there's got to be some hope in the city." Johnathan wondered.

"There is no hope!" called a voice from behind the pack.

Drake looked behind his back and saw Thomas and his IS crew pull up to the others. Drake stepped off his tank and slowly walked towards his Vice Captain.

"What do you mean that there's no hope?"

"Look around you!" Thomas thundered, "Do you think that we can recover from something like this!?"

Drake inhaled deeply, "Thomas, please, calm down-"

"Well, do you?!"

"How am I supposed to know?" Drake answered back.

"See, if you don't know, who does?!" Thomas asked in rage.

"Perhaps we could all come forth to-"

"Everyone is gone! Everyone has gone off to somewhere else, they may possible be joining the ranks of our enemies right now as we speak!"

Drake frowned, "What do you assume we should do then? Should we storm their ships and cause the same kind of crime that they did to us!?"

"Maybe we should, so we can all give those 'Wretched Witches' up there a piece of our minds!" Thomas screamed.

Once more, Drake remained calm and collected, trying to not let his rage get the best of himself.

"Thomas, you know violence would only make the problem even worse than it already is." said Drake.

"Fine, then what kind of plan do you propose?" Thomas asked while calming down.

"What I was going to say before you rudely interrupted me-"

Thomas interrupted Drake again with another burst of anger, "Who are you calling-"

"Both of you guys are acting ridiculous!" Cody shouted, "Can't you two just come together and work something out?"

"That's what I'm trying to do, Cody." said Drake, "However, English over here thinks that violence is better than words."

"What did you just call me you smart mouth?!" Thomas growled.

Drake's eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen next, "Hey! Listen please, I didn't mean to call you that-"

The next thing he knew, Thomas shoved him forcefully to the ground, causing Drake to let out a cry of pain and fury. Thomas' teammates ran forward to restrain him while Drake's teammates helped their Commander up to his feet again.

"All you do is tell us over and over, again and again that all we should do is peacefully solve our problems! Well, you know what Captain, I say that thats never going to work all the time!"

"If thats the way that you think we should solve all of our problems, then I ask you to please leave me and the rest of the team alone." Drake ordered.

The senior began to charge again, but his crew held him back. He broke loose and demanded that his crew will follow him back to the IS. After loading up, the team sped off into the desert, leaving behind them a large cloud of dust and sand.

"Let them go." whispered Drake, "If he wants to cause trouble, then let him. He isn't with us anymore."

"Yes, Sir." said the others.

They turned over to see what Cody and his crew were doing, but they were already inside their Hellcat and preparing to leave for another part of the ship. Soon after Cody and his crew had departed, Drake and his team did the same. With one last look, Ian watched as the deserted compound, the one place that served as a safe haven for Death Valley Highs Tankery Team, slowly fade away on the horizon. Far off in the distance, a group of Pravda girls and their T-34 watched as the whole incident unfolded before them. Without hesitation, they reported back to Pravda High and told Katyusha about everything that they saw.

"We are certain that the main threat has been extinguished and we have reigned victorious over the other school."

"Excellent, we should all celebrate over this accomplishment." Katyusha said with joy.

"Comrade, we didn't cause that to happen, though." replied one of the girls, "Why should we be celebrating something that we didn't take part in?"

"We can if I say so!" squeaked the short Commander, "Besides, even if we didn't participate in this battle, we will display the news to everyone. That way, all of the students of the boys school will learn how to not mess with the might Pravda High Sensha-Do Team." boasted Katyusha.

"If you say so, then." answered one of the girls.

The next day was a Friday, with Saturday and the Weekend just around the corner. The Pravda Paper was released to the public later that morning, causing many people on all the school vessels to read the latest news on the Black Forest Peak strike. Many thought that the threat was gone for good and thought to themselves that everyone would finally calm down and stop wondering about Death Valleys Tankery Team. On the other hand, many still haven't forgotten about the boys and started to ask to themselves where they were located at now. In her office, Shiho Nishizumi thought deeply to herself while she read the paper.

"Is this true?" she asked to herself, "Have they finally surrendered and returned to school again?"

Just then, the tall woman heard a knock on her door. When Shiho asked for the person to enter, she was surprised when she saw that the girl was wearing a Pravda High school uniform and was carrying a large manila envelope in her hands.

"What are you doing here?" Shiho asked curiously, "Aren't you supposed to be back at your school?"

"A student has given the Headmistress of our school these photographs, regarding the team that we have problems with." replied the messenger.

She walked forward and handed the manila envelope to Shiho at her desk.

"Many thanks." she said.

The girl bowed and left the room. As the day progressed, Shiho's patience finally came to its limit. She grabbed the folder and opened the packet. A flood of black and white photographs spilled all over the desk, following by a letter. Unfolding the paper, she read it aloud to herself.

* * *

Dear Panzerkraft Instructor Nishizumi,

I have been recently informed by my students of the ongoing production of Death Valley Boys High School and their tankery team. As you would have noticed, these photographs were taken by our schools Wilderness Survival Club and our Yearbook Club, regarding the possibility of another colonization of minorities in the uncivilized portion of their school ship. This has increased the level of restlessness among my Panzerkraft Club about the situation at hand and what the consequences might bring if this situation gets unstable once more.

I write with curiosity about the future. If you have advised your own students about this similar case and wondered if another strike upon these male minorities is necessary or not, please inform me as soon as possible. It's best to deal with this problem now before it gets worse later. Also, is it possible if we can call up a meeting with the head instructors of Death Valley Boys High School? If we can, it could possibly help us in sorting this problem out. If you have any alternatives beside this, please advise me about it ASAP.

Sincerely,

Panzerkraft Instructor Kawasaki

* * *

"Clearly this situation is over my head." Shiho grumbled while sinking into her chair, "There must be a different way that we could handle this situation. The only other option would be to bring in the JGSDF."

At that moment, she realized just the person to ask, the only other person with advanced skills, armor and leadership to take on the job. She went into her E-mail account and composed a letter to a certain person, one that Shiho knew would be able take on the assignment. Later on that same day, Erika invited Maho and Katyusha to talk about the Pravda Paper. When they got there, Erika greeted Maho, Katyusha and Nonna to a room with a projector screen and chairs for them to sit in. When everyone was seated, Erika began the slideshow.

"What exactly are you showing us, Erika-San?" Maho asked.

"To talk to you all about the battle from last night." she answered.

"Wait, there was a battle last night?"

"Apparently there was." Nonna quietly answered.

Erika dimmed the lights and with the click of a button on a remote control, started the slideshow.

"As you can see here." Itsumi said while she presented the first slide,"Our enemies and their home base has been made of short work, thanks to our team."

"Incredible, it must of been a tough battle to win." Katyusha said in amazement.

Erika switched to the next slide, "However, the threat has not yet ceased and from recent reports, it appears that it is still active."

Katyusha was stunned by the response, "Hold on, wait? I thought we finished them for good?"

"Apparently not." Maho returned.

"According to your helpful elective classes, we managed to collect these photos of their teams fleeing from view." Erika said while passing out the similar pictures that Shiho received to the other three.

"Do we know where they are now?" asked Nonna.

"No, but we did notice this." Erika replied and switched to the next slide,"This distant picture showed us the main tankery captains and their teams as they drive away from the ruins. One of these teams wield that blasted E-100."

"I do admit, our Panzer VIII Maus has been having trouble lately trying to eliminate it and it seems like it isn't getting any better." said Maho, causing Erika to turn to her Commander with embarrassment.

"Kommandant, isn't that a sign of weakness? You do realize, that beside the technique that Ooarai used on us a few months back, we could have cut down those boys and their heavy tank."

"You don't understand. That was a skill that my sister used with her team, but this time, it's another heavy tank fighting another heavy tank." said Maho, "It depends entirely on skill."

"Anyways, our best photo gives us the face of that tanks commander." Erika replied as she switched to another slide.

Maho's pupils shrunk when she noticed the face of the 16 year old boy taken in the shot.

"I believe that this boy determines the victory of our tankery teams." Erika said pointing to the face on the screen, "I say that we must capture him and turn him in! What do you girls think?"

"That idea sounds great!" exclaimed Katyusha, "When should we send out the tanks?"

Maho loudly cleared her throat, "Please excuse me for a second." said Maho as she got up and left the room.

Nonna watched for a second before following in pursuit. Katyusha noticed Erika beckoning her to come forth. Seeing that no one else was around, the two began to plot once more. Nonna continued to run through the corridors, until she ran into Maho a couple hallways down. Maho lifted her head to the approaching girl.

"Hello there." she greeted.

"You seem troubled, my friend. Why is this so?" Nonna asked.

"This certain boy that was mentioned keeps on coming back to my mind." Maho explained.

"Why? Do you have feelings for that boy?"

"No, it's just…" she quickly looked both ways to see if anyone was following her before she turned her head back to Nonna, "Can you keep a secret?"

Nonna shook her head and came closer.

"When Death Valley High arrived here, they were mysteriously teleported by some unknown force. While me and my team were at our practice range, a Luchs tank containing him and his crew, appeared in front of us and shot me off of my tank. In the hospital, I realized that what he had made was a mistake and somehow there was a better way of ending the feud between us, but with me being hospitalized and with my Vice Captain in charge with yours, I had no control over the problem until I was released. It was already too late, since my mother had issued out information about them, I was left to follow her orders."

Maho heaved a heavy sigh and continued, "If only I could go back in time, I could have handled the problem. They must hate me now and think that I'm a disgrace to them for causing all this to happen."

"Don't think that it's your fault, because it isn't. If anything, they should be blaming my Captain and your Vice Captain for this." Nonna boldly replied.

"Are you sure?" Maho wondered.

"I most certainly am, and though Katyusha has made some stupid mistakes in the past, I don't hold anger towards her at all. I say stupidity kills and misunderstandings deceives."

"I can't thank you enough for helping me with this problem, my friend. I may have never gotten out of it by myself." Maho smiled.

"Think nothing of it." Nonna smiled in return.

"I guess this kidnap plan could help us formulate a plan of our own." suggested Maho.

"It will and I know an easy way to make it work." said Nonna as she began to walk down the hall.

Suddenly, the fire alarm in the hallways went off, causing all the girls in their classrooms to look outside. After the sound of a nearby explosion, the intercom sounded over the ringing.

"Attention all students. We are experiencing an emergency lockdown! Please remain calm and listen to your teachers."

Both Maho and Nonna dashed back to the projector room and locked the door behind them. Shiho ran outside to find a blockade set up in the streets and Police cars surrounding an impaired black IS tank. Thomas and his crew were fished out of their vehicle and forced to their knees in the streets as Shiho and a few others walked forward.

"I swear that when I get my hands on you, I will tear you apart!" shouted Thomas.

"Take him away." ordered one of the police officers.

Shiho closed her eyes and walked away, feeling regret for coming out to the front of the school. Once the security level had died down, the students were let free again to roam around the city. When they returned to Pravda, Nonna drifted away from Katyusha.

"Where are you going?" Katyusha asked.

"Going to the cafeteria!" Nonna called from afar.

In reality, Nonna wasn't even going in that direction. Instead, she opened a door and went into a bright room and closed the door behind her. On the door, labeled in green letters spelled out the words,

**"****ROOM 1403 - MAIN CHEMISTRY LAB AND LIQUID SUBSTANCE CENTER."**

That night, Shiho went to the airport of Kuromorimine and waited for a special plane to appear in the night sky. Minutes after Shiho's arrival, a large white plane landed upon the strip with a large red label written in Japanese on its sides. The back drop of the plane fell open and a camouflaged Type 10 MBT came rolling out towards Shiho. The top hatch of the tank opened and a woman, wearing a female military uniform and a soldier's helmet with goggles appeared.

"Hello Instructor, it's been awhile." said the woman.

"Indeed Ami, it has." Shiho greeted, "Come along, there's work to be done."

The two woman walked off the strip and towards an escort van. On the ride, Shiho and Ami began to talk.

"I received your message and I am very concerned about the situation at hand." said Ami Chouno as she took her helmet off her head.

"If the problem doesn't get solved soon, I fear that something very bad will happen to all of us." Shiho replied.

"I agree, and if it does get worse, I'm afraid that the army must get involved." said Ami, "I'm surprised myself that they aren't here already."

"Lets just try and focus on whats happening now." interrupted Shiho, "I'll get you settled in first."

All of Saturday, Drake and his crew have been wondering through the desert, searching for their lost army. They searched all around the ship, from mesa to mesa, butte to butte, and hilltop to hilltop, but found nothing. Near the evening though, Drake was looking around the darkening landscape and noticed a shimmering light in the far distance, located in a basin. He ordered his team to drive closer to see what is was. Upon arrival, they saw that it was a large camp that was made of Death Valley Highs Tankery Teams vehicles.

"Unbelievable, they actually came together and built a new home for themselves." Davian said in amazement.

"Come on boys, let's check it out." Drake said excitedly.

As they drove down the hill, a couple of boys shouted for the crew to park in a gap reserved just for them. When they all hopped out, an entire group of teams came forward and greeted them. When they were all settled in for the night, Drake and his friends went over to Cody and his group.

"Do you know where Thomas and his guys are at?" asked Drake.

"I'm afraid not. They never came here like how you guys did." Cody answered back.

"I don't think he's okay." Ian said.

"Really, why?" Cody asked nervously.

"Hello up there!? Don't you remember? He said that he was going to take on those 'Wretched Witches'?" Kyle blurted out.

"Wow, what was that nut thinking?" commented Cody's Driver.

"Seriously, you're not helping." Cody snapped.

"It must have been when you two were arguing." said Johnathan.

"Oh God, what are we going to do!?" Drake exclaimed.

"Don't worry; we will think of something I'm sure of it."

A blast of hot wind and dirt got in Cody's Loaders face. It blew him over and made him fall on his back. The others laughed as they checked on the Loader.

"Aww, darn it." he said spitting out the dirt in his mouth, "That wind is kicking up bad."

"There might be a windstorm coming, let's all be ready for when it does." said Ian while offering the Hellcat Loader a water bottle.

Later that night, Nonna was stuffing items into a small backpack when she heard a knock on the door. Answering it, she opened the door to see Maho's face.

"So, are you ready?" Maho asked anxiously.

"I most certainly am." Nonna answered putting the pack on her back, "Thanks for letting me borrow your room for awhile."

"No problem. I like helping those who need something from me."

Nonna stepped out into the hall with Maho, "I talked to Katyusha about the kidnapping plan, so she knows about the procedure. I didn't tell her about our version of it, though."

"Good, very good. Now, I don't know how your going to get aboard their ship with those barriers up?" said Maho, "They place up those barriers every night before sundown."

Her acquaintance thought for a moment before speaking. Then, Maho remembered something, "There's another Tankery Instructor that came here yesterday and she's taking a tour of Kuromorimine. Perhaps she might give you access to your location?"

"Wait a second, how do you know about this?" asked Nonna.

"My mother informs me about everything that's important to her work. This is one of them."

"Do you know where this Instructor is now?"

"Not exactly, but her tank is temporarily parked in our schools tank storage. So, let's search there first." suggested Maho.

"Good idea, let's get moving." Nonna confirmed.

She quickly went into her room and grabbed her backpack of items and locked the door on her way back out. The two girls wondered down the corridor together. Meanwhile, Erika was brewing up a plan of her own. She was inside the projector room with the commanders of the schools Jagdpanther, Maus, Panzer III and one of the eight Panthers. On the silver screen, an image of Drake being pushed by Thomas was illuminating back at them.

"...And so, you all now know the weakness of the enemy captain. With their schools team in disorder, its time for us to celebrate our success."

"You've got that right." said the one Panther Commander, "Just how are we going to celebrate this victory exactly?"

The girls thought to themselves for a second before the Maus Commander joined in.

"You know, I have been thinking, just how would a drinking party with us girls work out?" asked the Maus Commander.

"Where the hell are we going to find alcohol, though?" asked the Panzer III Commander while fitting her glasses on her face.

"If I remember correctly, I still think that my 21 year old friend is still here on Kuromorimine and she really likes to party." suggested the Panther Commander.

"Is it possible for her to get us a pack or two while she's out?" Erika asked.

"Of course, she's always out with her friends and they like to go to bars and stuff."

"Then there we have it." said Jagdpanther-Chan, "Ring her up and tell her to hit the liquor store real quick."

"Yeah and then, we could pay her on the way back. I know a secret shortcut back into campus from the street." said the Maus Commander.

"You sneaky bitch, I always liked your style." Erika laughed.

"What are we waiting for? It's Saturday Night and its time to party!" shouted the Panther Commander with glee.

Once Maho and Nonna had reached the garage area, they both saw Ami Chouno, Shiho Nishizumi and Katherina Kawasaki having a conversation together near the Type 10 Japanese MBT.

"Maho, it's getting late. You should be going back to your dorm now." Shiho called from across the hanger.

"Right, I'm coming!" she called in return, "Well, all I could say is good luck for now, my friend." Maho saluted.

"Thank you. I'll call you sometime later regarding the details on the capture." Nonna replied.

She stood and watched as Maho and her mother exited from the Tank Hangar and back outside. Nonna turned her head and saw the two other women coming over to her.

"Here is one of Pravda Highs senior tankery students, she has helped us achieved victory many times during the games." Katherina said to Ami.

"That's very interesting." Ami said happily, "Do you like doing Sensha-Do miss…um?"

"My friends call me Nonna, and yes, I do enjoy it." she replied.

"That's nice to hear, my friend. Keep up the good work."

"Well, I guess I'll let you go." said Miss Katherina as she departed.

Ami said her farewells to Nonna and returned to her Type 10. As she started up the engine, Nonna dashed for her IS-2 that she drove over earlier that day and jumped into the driver's cockpit as fast as she could. She started the engine up and quickly slid into reverse. Following Amy carefully, she somehow managed to get aboard Death Valley with ease, watching Ami drive off into the streets of Death Valley High.

"Thank you, my dear friend." Nonna said to herself.

The dust storm was picking up on the far desert end of the ship and everyone had to take shelter in their tanks to prevent from being blown away. The E-100 team had decided to use the storm to their advantage in order to get closer to the city in hopes of finding Thomas and his rouge IS Crew. They paused the vehicle on a slope over viewing a portion of the cities suburbs and began to gather as much info as they could.

"Would you think that Thomas would have the guts to come this far into the city?" asked Kyle.

"Maybe. He was pretty angry a few days ago."

"Well, if he's anywhere on this ship, it might possible be here." Drake said, "Turn the turret in the direction of the skyscrapers."

While Davian was rotating the massive metal turret, the team heard a loud grinding sound. The turret had stopped rotating all together.

"Is that turret jammed again?" groaned Johnathan, "I knew that something bad was going to happen."

"Alright, who's going to fix this thing?"

The crew suddenly raised their hands as fast as they could; Drake was the last to do so.

"Not me again." he muttered, "Fine, I'll be back."

Kyle handed him the toolbox as Davian helped Drake opened the hatch.

"Wonder why he's bringing his backpack with him?" Ian wondered to himself.

The dusty warm wind began to pound on Drake's body as he climbed out of the E-100. As he tried to work in the blinding winds, he accidentally knocked the toolbox off the side of the tank. Grumbling, he careful slid off the edge of the super heavy, while taking care not to hurt his feet on the way down. When he reached the bottom, he began looking for the toolbox in the dirt. Confused and lost in the blinding winds, he called for his team but didn't get a response. Drake didn't realize how far he had gotten on his own when found himself near another hill. Out of nowhere, he felt metal brush against his body.

"Is this my tank?"

Not knowing any different, he climbed onto the vehicle. He felt a pair of arms grab him from below and lower him into the tank. The sound of a door slammed down from above his head and soon there was total darkness.

"Very funny guys, you had me worried there for a second." Drake chuckled.

"Kon'nichiwa." said a random girls voice.

"Who's here?" Drake asked as he tried to escape from the females grasp.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you." a girl's voice answered.

A small lantern flashed on and the face of Nonna appearing in the light. Drake trembled at he felt her hands slide off of his chest.

"Who are you?" he asked again.

"My name is Nonna and I am second in-command of the Pravda Girls High School Panzerkraft Club." she replied.

"Why would a girl like you want to do with me?"

"I just want to talk. I'm very well aware of the problems that we are going through and I feel that we should try and stop it." said Nonna.

Drake felt a small sense of trust return to him, "Well, why are you invading us? I suppose that there's a logical exclamation for all this."

"Hmm, you are a curious one, aren't you." she said with a small smile.

"Okay, I am, so what. Why did you take me captive and where are we now?"

"Calm down. I'm not here to bring you harm." Nonna said calmly.

There was silence before they continued their conversation. Neither one of them really knew what to say to each other, so Nonna broke the ice.

"How did your school get between our vessels anyways, it amazes me how your school ship was able to get stuck so perfectly between us."

"Thats confidential information." Drake sternly answered, "It's top secret, lets just leave it at that."

"I apologize." Nonna blushed, "I didn't know that was such a touchy subject to bring up."

Drake nodded, "Its alright, I guess."

"You sound like your worried. Why is this so?" Nonna asked while bringing her face closer to his.

"Um…Well…You see its..."

Drake became silent as his face fell. Nonna felt that she had finally got to him.

"My platoon is all messed up." he answered, "I got in a really big argument a few days ago and I'm still trying to get over it."

"Tell me about it." she asked looking into his face, "Its best if we could try and sort this out together."

"Well, you see. Our compound was attacked by you girls and it unfortunately collapsed in the middle of the night."

"Oh my." Nonna gasped, "Did you all make it out alright?"

"We all made it out in one piece, but now we have no place to go."

"Don't you all have your school to go back to?"

"We can't go back! If we do, we will get arrested." Drake shouted, "I don't want to get in more trouble than I'm already in. We've all been away from home for so damn long and I can't stand this fighting anymore!"

Nonna was blown away by his response. She said nothing but watched as tears began to pour from his eyes.

"Where is he?" Kyle asked tapping his feet impatiently.

"Don't rush him; he's probably trying hard to focus on his work." said Johnathan.

"I'm getting worried, should we go looking for him?" Ian wondered.

"I think he's just fine. Give him a couple more minutes and you'll see."

Outside, the storm drowned out the sound of the incident inside Nonna's IS-2. Through the wind, the faint sound of crying could be heard.

"Please, enough with these tears." Nonna whispered while grabbing hold of Drake.

She leaned back into the driver's seat and rested his head upon her chest. Choked up in misery, Drake began to speak.

"I don't think I'll ever…see my home or my parents again...and now that...my Vice Captain is gone...I have no idea…what I'm going to do." he sobbed, "I just wish that this is a bad dream and that I will wake up from it soon."

He mumbled something under his breath and began to flinch. At that moment, Nonna looked at his sad face and saw dark rings under his eyes, a sight of days without sleep. Feeling sorry for him, she unzipped the backpack and slowly pulled out a bottle of liquid. Looking at the boy again, she noticed him pulling out something from his backpack. Hunched over, he began to rub his security blanket over his face.

"What's that?" Nonna asked, "Is that your blanket or something?"

Drake nodded and slowly sat up again. He held it tightly in his arms, afraid that Nonna might snatch it from him.

"No no, its okay. I won't take it from you." she cooed.

After handing part of it to her, he looked away while she quickly dabbed that part of the blanket with chloroform. Nonna felt Drake inching closer to her as he bunched up. She pressed the wet end of the blanket against his face and nose and lowered her lips to his ear whispering, "Shhh shh shh shh shh shh, close your little eyes and sleep."

The male commander moaned as he started to knead the flannel material with his hands. Nonna sighed and began to softly hum a Cossack Lullaby. It was also the same song that she sang to Katyusha during the Ooarai vs. Pravda Cease Fire. Just as she was ending the first few verses, she saw Drake rest his head on her and close his eyes. She grinned and gently kissed him goodnight on both of his closed eyelids.

"This is bad! I don't see him anymore!" shouted Davian.

"We have to find him now!" Johnathan shouted, "Ian, get on the radio and contact the others!"

"Sure thing!"

Kyle started the tank and drove away into the desert, while missing the IS-2 within the shadows of the night. Nonna got on the radio and contacted Maho.

"Objective is secured and unharmed." she said into the speaker.

"Good, I'll try to think of a way of getting him in here. Try and keep in touch with me."

Down the hallway of the dormitory building, the sound of laughter and coughing filled Erika's room. Lying on the floor were packs of Sapporo cans, cold and icy from the nearby liquor store. Jagdpanther-Chan, the Panther Commander, the Maus Commander, the Panzer III Commander and Erika were wide awake and ready to start sipping on a newly opened can that they fetched from the box.

"Who's going to call the toast?" asked the Panther Commander.

"It might as well be me. Since, I was the one that started their evacuation." Erika boasted, "I propose a toast to Kuromorimine!"

"To Kuromorimine!" shouted the others, "For defeating the enemy!"

They all began to gulp down their cans. With the exception of one of the girls freaking out from the taste. The party continued until early morning, though they had calmed down as the night went on. The commander of the Maus, the one Panther and the Panzer III had left a long time ago, Erika and Jagdpanther-Chan were still awake. Lying to her close comrade, Erika pretended to be drunk, in order to trick the other commander to fall for her plan.

"Do you think that you might need one more?" Erika asked.

The other commander hiccuped before taking another can out of the cardboard pack, "Maybe just...one more...then I will be...satisfied..."

"Don't rush, my friend. Take smaller sips because you need to save your energy for the fun activity that I'm going to give you."

Jagdpanther-Chan made a happy and confused gasp, "Really? What kind...of activity?"

Erika looked at her clock. The hands pointed to 5:30 A.M.

"You will see when I get back. I have to go on a little trip and I won't be long." said Erika grabbing her pack, "Please, don't leave the room until I come back and go hide in the closet."

"Sure thing...boss...I know...better than to do...that..."

The pale haired girl snickered to herself as she ran for the schools helicopter, where Maho had told Erika to meet her that morning. After granting access to the keys and the vehicle itself, the two picked up Katyusha and flew to Nonna's position. The girls all had to work together to get Drake into the helicopter.

"I will take the tank back to the ship and meet up with you later." said Katyusha.

The helicopter took flight towards the Black Forest Peak School Ship as the burning sun began to slowly rise up in the scarlet sky. While Maho and Erika were in awe at the sight, Nonna felt Drake slightly nudge her in his sleeping state in the seat next to her. She unstrapped him and held him in her embrace. Under her breath, Nonna softly whispered, "Don't worry, your mom's right here."

Upon arrival, the three grabbed Drake's unconscious body and carried him to Erika's dorm. Once the other two had left, Erika tied the boys body down and called for Jagdpanther-Chan to come out. The girl fell face first onto ground and looked up at Drake on the bed.

"Surprise." Erika said dangling a strange rubber packet over the intoxicated girls face.

"All for me!?" Jagdpanther-Chan asked with a huge grin on her face.

"I will leave you two alone for awhile." Erika said grabbing her dorm room key and locking the door behind her.

With one long stare at the words on the packet she had received, the girl walked over and ripped the packet open over the trash can.

"Oh ho ho." giggled Jagdpanther-Chan, "I hope that...this doesn't get...too messy."

A few hours later, Drake opened his eyes to a blinding white room with girl's voices all around. When his vision returned again, he found his dark brown eyes staring into a pair of deep ocean blue eyes.

"Sit up dear, we have company."

Looking over her shoulder, he saw Erika looking back at him grimly.

"Oh no, this can't be! I have been kidnapped by my worst enemy!"


	15. Chapter 15 - POW

Chapter 15 - P.O.W.

* * *

Drake's team came storming across the dusty landscape back towards the new male colony. When they got inside, they began to gather everyone up and told them about the events that had happened.

"Now that both Drake and Thomas are gone, we have no idea who is going to disappear next!" exclaimed Kyle.

"They took our Main Leaders, who will lead us into combat now!?" asked a boy in the crowd.

The masses began to throw questions at each other, until Cody fired his Hellcat cannon into the sky to grasp everyone's attention once more.

"Attention! Everyone listen up!" Cody shouted through a megaphone, "Just because we've lost our top field leaders doesn't mean that we should give up all together."

"They were the leaders of all of us. Who will lead us into battle now?" asked the crowd.

"We don't always need a leader to show us the path to victory!"

The boys grew quiet and whispers began to sound from the crowd. Cody waited until he had their attention again before speaking.

"I know the situation is worse now than what it was before, but you must realize that we must continue the fight without our top commanders. We are all determined to return home, right?"

The crowd let out a loud shout.

"Plus, we all want to show how powerful we really are as a school, right?"

"YEAH!"

"I definitely know that even if we hate them at times, we care about our best friends and how they would help us in our time of need, right?!"

"YEAH!"

"Then let's all show them what we are really made up and bring back our fallen heroes!"

The crowd bursted out in excitement. Everyone began to rush to their tanks and started to gather up shells and gear. The teams began to form into small groups of their own and began to plan what their next move was. While Cody watched, Eagle Eye came over.

"Looks like you gave them a bit of faith." he said.

"It's enough for now." replied Cody.

Aboard Kuromorimine, Drake was still trapped in the room with his foes. He began to grow irratated with the bright beam that shined at his eyes.

"Flash the light away from him." Erika ordered.

Unable to move, Drake saw that his hands were handcuffed to the sides of the bed that he was lying on. He shifted his head around the room to inspect the chamber. Drake noticed that it looked like a students dorm but the desk and chairs were gone and the bed was in the middle of the room. The blinds at the window were shut and a single lamp on a small table was lit.

"Cut the cuffs loose from the bed, but make sure his hands stay restrained." Erika instructed to Nonna.

"Maybe, we should just keep him restrained like this." Nonna wondered.

"Negative, our Instructor wants him slightly loose." Erika returned.

"Very well."

Nonna followed Erika's orders and with a pair of sharp chain cutters in her hands, cut Drake partially loose to allow him some guarantee movement. To their surprise, he didn't attempt to flee once released, but just laid there and waited for them to speak.

"Good, now stay down." Erika frowned.

"How long have I been unconscious?" he asked.

"Hours." said Nonna.

"Hours. I don't believe this."

"Do you want me to inform the others?" Nonna asked to Erika.

"Yes, please bring them as soon as you can." said Erika.

While Nonna walked out, Erika closed the door behind her and walked over to Drake. For a while, neither of them spoke to one another. Then, without warning, the girl slapped Death Valley High's Captain across the face.

"You don't know how long I wanted to do that to you!" she growled and gnashed her teeth.

"So, I can tell." Drake answered calmly.

"Consider that payback for what you have done."

Drake raised an eyebrow at Erika's pointing finger, "I have no clue about what you're talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me!" Erika shouted, "You know exactly about what I'm talking about."

"No, I don't. Now explain to me why I'm here." Drake repeated with an annoyed voice.

There was a knock on the closet door. This caught Erika's attention and caused her to open it. In the small compartment stood Jagdpanther-Chan, with a flustered face and a glazed look in her eyes.

"Well well well. You still have him here?" Jagdpanther-Chan addressed in a odd tone.

"Yes and he is going to be interrogated soon." Erika added.

From his perspective, Drake thought that the short haired commander was sick, but from the look in her eyes and her slightly impaired speech, it turned out that she was intoxicated.

"What? Are you drunk!?" Drake exclaimed.

"So...what?" she replied having trouble answering his question, "When a boy like you...comes around, we all have our...fair share of the cake filling."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Your playing smart again, aren't you? You would probably understand something like this."

Erika attempted to hit Drake again. This time, Drake was ready and ducked to avoid another facial blow. Erika turned away and ignored him. After this, he turned back to Jagdpanther-Chan, who dropped an empty Sapporo can into a nearby basket.

"First off, how did you get liquor onto campus and second, what do you mean by 'Our fair share of the cake filling'?"

The intoxicated girl chuckled, "Oh, we have...ways. Also, do you want...a hint for...what I'm talking about?"

Drake nodded.

"Here's an example...by what I mean. You see...us girls have some pretty...delicious cake that we like to share, but we...have nobody to share it with."

Before continuing, Jagdpanther-Chan restrained herself from falling over. She could barely stand on her own two feet.

"The reason why is because...the cake is dry and plain. That's why...when there's a can of cream...to fill it up with flavor, it's a REAL party."

"Understand now?" Erika asked blocking the door from anyone on the outside.

"Not really." Drake hesitated, "Unless you're trying to make me hungry for dessert."

Erika placed a hand across her face and shook her head while mumbling something under her breath.

"Here's a better way...of saying it." hiccuped the drunken minor.

She stumbled over to the bedside and plopped herself down at Drakes feet, while lifting her legs up into the air, spreading them and beginning to rub herself between her skirt. Without hesitation, it became quite clear to Drake as to what Jagdpanther-Chan meant. When Drake shifted his vision away from the sight, Jagdpanther-Chan began to laugh hysterically in her intoxicated state.

"Oh my God...What were you thinking!?" wailed the poor male captain.

"Cake is always best...with friends, when its full of sweet filling...so we always need a canister of...cream to fill it up with."

When Jagdpanther-Chan noticed Erika peeking outside the door, she moved her face closer to Drakes to where the tips of their noses were touching each other. Drake began to feel uncomfortable and tried to slide back more, but he was chained to the bed still.

"Excuse me? Could you please tell your friend to get away from my face, please?"

Erika smirked and avoided him completely. Again, Erika exited the room and locked the door behind her, leaving the two alone. The intoxicated girl turned her attention back to Drake and stared at him lustfully in the eye. She placed her hands on his chest and began to rub on it.

"I got you real good while you were...out this morning." she whispered, allowing Drake to smell the scent of alcohol in her breath, "I love tanks like you who...have big, long, hard cannons that have...great accuracy at all ranges..."

She guided one of her hands under the sheets to Drakes lower body. She began to slowly unbutton and unzip his pants and began to touch his lower body carelessly, "I also love...how we both...exploded at the same time. Our lovely combo was...thick, bubbly...and spilled everywhere. Boy, that was one big mess...to clean up."

Drake was horrified by such a repulsive deed that she had done with him while he was unconscious. He groaned as he felt her cold hand rubbing and squeezing him inappropriately from below. She placed her forehead underneath his chin and breathed down his neck as Drake rested his head on the pillow. She made a purring sound.

"If you were out a little longer...the rest of the tankettes...would have had some exploding too."

"Why!? Why would do something so low?!" Drake wailed, "Cut it out with this tank innuendo!"

She slowly licked her lips, "You blew away my old fuel tank...now I want you to...do it again. I've got a fresh refill recently...and I want a bigger mess from...a cannon like yours."

"There will be no more contact with me today!"

Oh, but I...want to get dirty with you more, baby...MORE..."

"Get off of me!" he demanded.

"Go easy on him or someone will hear you." Erika said from outside the door.

The drunk girls eyes were barely even open. Drake realized that she had passed out a second earlier and had fallen off the bed and onto the floor. It was official, Erika's devious plan was almost complete. Drake turned to Erika as she came back into the room.

"This is insane! Why are you girls getting drunk and making love with my sleeping body!?" he yelled.

"Even the fairest of faces must execute their evil doings." Erika scowled.

"I thought you girls were more mindful than this." Drake frowned in return.

At the same moment, another person knocked on the door. Upon entrance, Shiho, Maho, Katyusha and Nonna emerged.

"Is he the boy that you've told me about?" Shiho asked.

"Yes, Miss Nishizumi." Erika saluted.

Maho's sight fell upon the unconscious Jagdpanther-Chan on the floor.

"Why is she here?"

Erika didn't say anything, fearing that her plan might backfire right then and there.

"Let's worry about that later. Time to go to my office."

Erika sighed and waited for the others to leave the room before rolling Jagdpanther-Chan over to a corner and placing a pillow in her lap.

"Now, to embarrass him in public."

She ran as fast as she could out into the hall to catch up with the others. The six left the dormitory buildings and began to walk across the campus. On the way, all the other students stared at Drake and began to whisper and giggle at him. When they finally arrived, everyone took a seat in the office.

"Could one of you please open that window for us?" Shiho ordered.

Katyusha followed the order and opened the window. A bright flash of light came flooding into the room. The females came to his front and stared down at him, each female giving a piece of identification to Drake.

"Identify personnel." Shiho said.

"The boys name is Drake Hernandez. He is 16 years old and weigh's 99 pounds. He is also 5 feet and 4 inches tall."

"Now, do you have an idea why you are here?" Shiho asked sternly.

"No ma' am." Drake replied.

"Well mannered, this might go over nicely." Erika said to herself.

Maho and Nonna were silent as Katyusha stepped forward towards the others. She was trying her hardest to frown.

"Would you like to know why yourself?" Shiho asked again.

"If I may?"

Shiho grabbed a list that Maho gave to her and began skimming the paper.

"About a week ago, your school ship has crashed into both ours and Pravda's. Your school has costed the Kuromorimine and Pravda school ships an amount of damage that's nearly a million or so to repair, and you've hurt my daughter on top of those bills for the hospital care."

"Listen, I can explain to you how we got here." Drake said.

"What's that?" asked Katyusha, "I don't think that you would come to the point this easily."

"Quiet." Shiho snapped at Katyusha, "What is it then?"

"This might sound stupid but…" he breathed in and began to speak again, "We have a state of the art teleportation device that allows us to teleport tanks to the location of our desire, but one day, it malfunctioned and brought our ship here. Our tank was affected by this and caused our crew to accidentally fire at your daughter and her teams tank."

Nobody said a word after they Drake finished.

"What a fool." Erika chuckled under her breath.

Shiho was speechless with what she just heard from Drake and turned her head to Maho. Drake felt a hand rest upon his right shoulder, but he didn't want to turn around to see who it was.

"This sound impossible." said Shiho, "Your story is a joke."

"I couldn't be anymore honest with you, Ma' am."

Is there a possibility that I can see this teleportation chamber for myself?"

"If you could let me free, I'll show you where it is." Drake answered holding up his handcuffed fists.

Shiho walked over to the window and looked out towards the city of the Kuromorimine ship. While she was looking out the window, Erika walked over to Drake and scowled straight into his face.

"You better not be playing any tricks now, you hear me?"

"Erika, leave him alone." Maho said.

While watching the two get angry at each other, Nonna felt a conflict begin to occur. She told her captain to wait outside the door until the problem was solved. Katyusha only stood back and argued with Nonna, telling her that she always corrects her all the time and that she was grown up enough to acknowledge the problem herself. Nonna just stood there looking blankly at Katyusha in response. Erika stumbled away her captain and back over to Drake again and began to throw questions at him again. Just as she was beginning to speak, a girl poked her head through the door and everyone in the room fell silent again.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you all, but you have a visitor." she replied.

"Who?" asked everyone else in the office.

"Another boy by the name of Thomas."

"Oh no." muttered Drake.

The face of Thomas came through the door and saw his captain handcuffed and sitting in a chair near the desk. Drake noticed that Thomas was being escorted by two other girls.

"Please tell me that they didn't get you too?"

"They did." struggled Thomas under the grasp of one of the girls, "These chicks took me and my crew and locked us away."

He paused for a moment, "I was then interrogated a couple of times. How did they catch you?"

Drake turned his head and saw Nonna standing next to Maho, while holding Drakes security blanket in her hand and whispering into Maho's ear. When she caught Drake staring at her, Nonna quickly hid it behind her back.

"That."

"I thought you got rid of that thing." Thomas wondered.

Katyusha noticed this and started to laugh at Drake, who has put his face into his hands.

"Lucky you, I was pulled down to my knees and then…"

"I think that's enough explaining." Shiho interrupted, "Now you both are here for certain violations to our society and must be punished in some way, but I still want to see this teleporter chamber before I do anything else."

Thomas gasped, "You told them about our experiment!?"

Drake nodded not knowing what else to say.

"Dude! Do you know how confidential that was!?"

"I'm sorry man, but they forced me to talk."

"We did not!" shouted Erika.

"Enough!" yelled Shiho.

The room began to die down again. The tension of the situation was getting so intense that Drake was almost to the point of breaking.

"Apprently, I can't handle you two for right now. You will both spend the night at the Kuromorimine Police Station and you will both think about the things you have done."

Having nothing else to say, the boys were escorted out of Shiho's office. The Tankery instructor told the other girls to leave her and return to their next class. Maho looked down the hall at Drake and Thomas and gave them a worried look. Later on that day, she visited Death Valley High with Ami Chouno to inspect the teleporter.

"What kind of school would have something like this? It sounds like the boys you were talking to lied."

"I won't say did until I see this thing for myself." said Shiho.

"I must say, I am fascinated by the way these Americans built the school." Ami said in wonder, "Almost like something out of a science fiction film."

Shiho nodded, "A lot of money must have been put in to make this."

After a few minutes of walking down flights of stairs, the two woman arrived at the lower levels of the school. From the time that Death Valley arrived till now, the lower levels had been cleaned up and remodel. There was still some halls and rooms closed off while they were still under construction. The smell of paint and metal filled the air of the halls. The sound of the metal creaked below the shoes of the two woman as they went further into the lower levels. Finally, they came to the sliding door of the teleporter control room. The chamber was still a mess but it had been somewhat fixed since Drake and his crew had escaped. Below the observation room was the chamber itself.

Interesting enough, the gigantic machine was almost rebuilt again, say for a few major pieces and such. The boys, girls and staff there had made tremendous progress. The two woman were blown away by the sight of the contraption.

"I simply can't believe what I'm seeing." Ami quietly said.

"Neither do I, but I reckon that it will come in handy." Shiho answered in return.

At the corner of her eye, Shiho spotted Ami writing down notes on a small pad of paper with a pen.

"You seemed very interested in this thing." Shiho said crossing her arms.

"As you always said, one can never be too observant." Ami replied.

The cell at the Japanese Police Station were cold but dry. While Drake and Thomas were kept in one cell, the IS crew were in two cells across from them. The corridor was quiet, except for the electric hum of the lights on the ceiling and the sound of water in a pipe above the hall. The group was quiet for most o f the night, until Thomas started the conversation.

"Hey, you still awake?" he asked to Drake on the bunk above.

"Yes I am. Why?"

"I want to apologize to you, Captain. I shouldn't have ran off like that, you were right about a solution to the madness."

Drake was silent, but after awhile spoke again.

"Why didn't you listen to me the first time?"

Thomas shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands behind his head, "I guess you can say that I thought that I knew everything, apparently I didn't."

Drake leaned his head over the side of the bunk and stared at his Vice Captain.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I should have listened to you the first time around, sorry."

"It's fine." Drake returned, "As long as you don't do the same stupid choice again, I'm fine with you."

"That and trying to blow away those 'Wretched Witches'." Thomas replied.

Drake laughed, "That idea of charging into their ship was crazy. How did you manage to get through the barricades?"

"Nah, I'll tell you later. It's a long story."

"Sounds like you guys made it up over there." called one of IS Crew Members.

"Pretty much." Drake answered.

The rest of the night dragged on. In the early morning light, Cody and the rest of the Death Valley High Tankery Team was finishing up on a strategy on getting into the Urban Zone. Him and a couple of other commanders were discussing the plan around a large table. Eagle Eye came forward.

"Hate to interrupt you, but I just confirmed the end point for our mission." he said.

"Very good. Now all we need to do is execute the plan." answered Cody.

"Do you guys think that we'll meet heavy resistance by any chance?" asked one of the other commanders.

"Shouldn't be." Cody said, "They all think that we have surrendered a few days ago."

"Looks like they are going to get a nasty surprise."

During the morning, Shiho visited the Police Station and was escorted immediately to Drake and the others. After they were out, Shiho told them to line up in the hall and wait for instructions.

"We are going to go down to the school ship below us and we are going to investigate this mechanism without any more arguments. Does everyone understand?" Shiho asked.

All the boys responded with an answer.

"Good, now let's move." she said turning around for the door.

In a single file line, all the minors walked out behind Shiho. None of them said a word all the way to the garage's, where they all were packed into two separate vans to be transported to their destination. Maho, Nonna, Katyusha and Erika were pulled out of there classes to help with the investigation. Drake was placed between Nonna and Maho while Katyusha and Erika sat in front of one van. While looking down at his lap, Drake felt a tap on his left shoulder.

"Do you want to know why we really captured you because its not what you think?" Maho whispered.

"It isn't what Katyusha or the others had said either." Nonna added in.

"Hmm…What's that?" Drake asked.

"You want peace, correct?"

"Uh huh." Drake suspiciously raised an eyebrow.

"Well, me and her can help you and your army come closer to that goal by letting you free." Nonna insisted.

"You can't be serious right now, are you?" Drake quietly chuckled.

"Yes, we are. Don't kid yourself, we can even get both you and the other boys free as well, but you have to do what we exactly tell you to do when we arrive." Nonna instructed.

"What are you three babbling about back there?" Katyusha asked turning around in her seat.

"None of your concern." said Drake.

"Oh, really?" Katyusha answered back.

"Yes, now leave me alone."

She only rolled her eyes and turned around again in her seat. Once the vans arrived at the high school on Death Valleys school vessel, the groups began to walk onto campus all together.

"This is where you boys come in handy. Lead the way for us." ordered Shiho.

Drake nodded as he proceeded into the halls, the others followed closely behind him. When Thomas and the others tried to reach Drake up front, Shiho called for them to separate from each other. Erika sped forward and caught up with the leader. She drew closer towards the captain and began to pester him.

"You are obliviously not an ordinary person, right?" Erika claimed.

"What do you mean?" asked Drake.

"Earlier, I've seen you acting strange and I believe that I might know what caused you to brutalize our regiments."

"Brutalize? What makes you possibly think that we would do such a thing and we didn't brutalize anyone."

"I don't like where this is going, Mother." Maho whispered to Shiho.

"Yes, I see." she relied back, "Don't worry about that. If something bad pops up, leave it to me to deal with."

"You may seem smart, but if you were under the Black Forest Peak Policy of Panzerfahren, you would have been kicked out on day one." she said while smiling deviously.

"Enough with the smooth talk. What's your point?" asked Drake.

The group finally reached a stairwell that led to the lower levels of the school. Thomas and his crew began to mumble something to each other.

"You're a shame to my eyes." Erika snickered.

"Stop it, please." Drake frowned.

"No one would want a team captain like you."

"I said knock it off." Drake addressed with an angry voice.

He was beginning to step down the first set of stairs.

"Your friends won't be able to save you once we're through with you."

"Shut up!"

"Both of you get along with one other." Shiho interrupted.

When the group made it to the lower levels, Erika came close to Drake and wickedly whispered something into his ear while poking her finger at his side. When Drake heard this, he lost control of his irritation and slapped Erika straight on her cheek; she hit the wall next to her.

"Do you think this is funny!? Leave my disorder alone!"

Shiho started for Drake but Thomas' IS Crew leaped out and grabbed the woman's arms and legs. Erika got up and started for Drake but Thomas himself grabbed hold of the girl and kept her away from the captain.

"They're after you now!" shouted Thomas, "Now is the time to run!"

Drake sprinted back for the stairwell. Katyusha, who was currently riding on Nonna's shoulders, attempted to chase after the boy, however, her Vice Captain grabbed on tightly to her ankles to keep her from getting off of Nonna's shoulders.

"Let me go free!" Katyusha struggled in her restraints, "Nonna, that's an order!"

"I'm afraid that I can't comply with that, Captain." she answered back.

All of a sudden, there was a loud booming noise erupting from the surface, causing all the boys and girls in the nearby classrooms to see what was happening. In the rush, Shiho and the others lost sight of the entire IS Crew and started searching for them in the crowd. Outside of school campus, the Death Valley brigade came zooming down the street and started shooting shots in to the air, scaring away anyone that was near them.

"It's Cody and the others; I knew they would come for us!" shouted Drake with excitement.

"Quick, get to your vehicles!" yelled Thomas from behind.

The IS group ran to retrieve their tank while Drake reunited with his E-100 team. During the time that Drake got comfortable in his E-100, Thomas and his crew found their IS in the nearby tank garage and joined up with the rest of the army.

"It's nice to see you again." greeted Drake.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll talk later. First, we all need to go to the canyon floor." Ian interrupted.

"Canyon floor? You mean the canyon with the two bridges going over it?"

"Yep, and they are sending an elevator-like platform up to collect our vehicles." Jonathan said to Drake.

"Who is they?"

"We have no idea, but we will find out soon enough."

While the odd lift was beginning to transport the tanks down to the canyon floor, the other teams watched for any signs of hostile activity.

"Keep your eyes peeled for targets." commanded Cody, "They could be here any minute."

"Was it you who planned all this, Cody?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, it was my idea. The thought of you guys being left for dead bothered me to the point where I said enough is enough!"

"Glad you guys were able to assist."

When Drake and his teams E-100 was preparing to load onto the platform, an odd rumbling shook the ground beneath them. No less than three seconds later, a camouflaged MBT came storming down the street and straight for the descending platform.

"Oh no, it's a Type 10!" exclaimed Davian.

"Quick, shoot it down!" yelled Drake.

"I can't aim the cannon up high enough. This blasted lift is lowering us down!"

"What are you gentlemen going to do?" Ami wondered to herself, "You may fire when the gun is ready."

Seconds afterwards, the Japanese MBT fired a shell into the E-100's lower hull. When the smoke had blown away, an exposed piece of machinery was seen glimmering in oil. Alarms went off everywhere in the superheavy tanks compartments.

"Damnit, she shot our engine block! We're leaking bad."

"Another round at the ready, Ma 'am." reported the Type 10 Gunner.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Ami abruptly announced, "Let them be, there's not much we can do to them now."

Shortly after the standoff, the E-100 crew reached the canyon floor to inspect the overall damage done to their superheavy.

* * *

END OF ACT FIVE


	16. Chapter 16 - Preparations

ACT SIX

Chapter 16 - Preperations

* * *

The large metal platform came to a halt on top of the sand covered earth. The E-100 Team immediately jumped out of their tank and began to inspect the damage caused by the Type 10. The results were not pretty. The whole back piece of the heavies exhaust area was blown off and parts of machinery were exposed. The fuel tank was blown to shreds and the engine was cracked. Already, large globs of hot oil and steaming black gasoline had covered the platform. When Kyle tried to start the E-100 back up again, he got dead silence. Kyle slipped out of the cockpit and wandered back over to the others.

"Bad news guys; the engine is not even turning over." Kyle sadly replied.

"Man, now what?" Ian wondered, "We don't have a tank to fight in?"

"Don't worry about that. They can't even reach us from all the way down here, so we're fine." said Drake.

The commander of the Death Valley High Jagdpanther came over to Drake's squad. Horror came over his face as he stared at the damaged E-100.

"Oh man, what happened?"

"That Type 10 up there blasted off the back part that's what happened." Davian said in frustration.

"Sorry to hear that." he returned.

"You don't have to be. It isn't your fault. Where's everyone else?" Drake asked as he removed the helmet from his head.

"Further down the canyon, that way more." said the Jagdpanther Commander pointing in the direction of the others, "I'll show you to them if you want me to?"

"Yeah, lets hurry." replied Johnathan.

The five followed the other commander to his team and their Tank Destroyer.

"You'll have to ride on top, there's no more space in here." he said.

"Fine by me, just don't drive too fast."

The teams drove down a narrow road to a large town like settlement. There were a couple tall buildings within the area but a majority of them were squared two floored structures. There was even a small park area in the middle of the town itself. The group pulled up to an extremely large warehouse at the end of the street that was labeled with bright neon lights: TANKERY MAINTANANCE AND STORAGE.

"Dang! I never noticed that there was a town here at the bottom of this canyon." Drake said in amazement.

"Me neither, I just recently learned about this myself." replied the Jagdpanther Commander.

Eagle Eye emerged from the giant warehouse and walked over to the black colored Jagdpanther.

"Glad to see you made it. How are you all doing?" he asked.

"Well, aside from almost being blown to shreds by a Japanese MBT, I'm doing just fine."

Eagle Eye sighed, "So I understand."

"Anyways how has your day been so far?"

"Just dandy, besides the fact that's its colder down here than it is up there." Eagle Eye said.

"You're right about that, I don't see the sun. Does it ever show through the canyon at all?" Kyle asked.

"From my short time down here, only at noon, otherwise it's just shady or darkness. This is a very narrow like canyon. Anyways, glad that you made it here in one piece."

"Don't worry about us." Davian answered.

"Since my radio equipment is gone in that fire, I work on the electricity cores down here in the canyon. At least until something else changes."

Eagle Eye was not in his usual school jumpsuit uniform. Instead, he now wore a scruffy blue pair of overalls over a white shirt. He also wore a pair of tinted glasses and had a dirty face from working with the filthy machinery. Eagle Eye was equipped with a yellow hardhat with a light on the front and with wires attaching to a tapped on potato.

"I hope you don't mind me asking but do you like this-"

"Horrible! This new job is horrible!" Eagle Eye blurted, "Not only am I away from my lovely radio's but I also have to work for thirteen hours. I hate getting dirty like this."

Ian snickered, "If you hate getting dirty like that, then chances are that you probably wouldn't like being in a tank either."

"Right. Is this where the rest of the tankery teams are stationed at?" Drake asked to Eagle Eye.

"Correct and I think I recall them saying that the instructor is waiting for your arrival as well." said Eagle Eye.

"Correct you are." said the Death Valley Instructor as he came out from the warehouse, "It's good to see you guys made it down alright."

"Yeah, we're okay. On the other hand, our tank didn't make it down in one piece, though." Ian sadly answered.

"Don't be so negative about it." Johnathan replied, "At least we are alive."

"Of course. Come along guys, all your friends are expecting you." said the Instructor.

Back on the surface levels, Ami Chouno returned to the front of the school. Upon arrival, she noticed Shiho and the other girls standing in front of the carrier vans. Ami ordered her crew to stop so they could park the Type 10. After getting out, she approached her old Sensha-do teacher.

"Did you manage to stop them?" Shiho asked instructively.

"I'm afraid I didn't." said Ami, "I don't think that firing at them was the wisest decision for you to make."

Shiho inhaled a breath and exhaled to keep herself from getting angry over the news.

"Very well. I have another plan to deal with these delinquents." she addressed, "This will require the entire school to know about this."

Katyusha took this as an opportunity to join in the conversation, "We give out the Pravda papers daily to the public, so that way they could stay alert."

"Thank you for your support." Shiho nodded.

"We also have a tank parade early tomorrow morning to show off our honorable battalion of future fighting women. I don't think that letting those boys ruin it will help this school grow." Maho said pointing at the Death Valley High flag pole.

"Exactly what she said." Erika replied while removing a hand from her cheek.

A look of shock came across Ami's face, "Dear, what happened to your face?"

"She received that for being an irritance towards another student." Shiho said crossing her arms.

Erika frowned in return to the response.

"We must stay on full alert today, in case another assault occurs. I'm sure that we all want order to return to normal here as usual, don't we?" Shiho asked.

"Most certainly, don't we girls?" Ami asked.

The other four nodded in agreement.

"Good, now you should all stay here while I finish up with Ami on our discussion."

When the two women walked away, Erika and Katyusha came together and walked away as well.

"Those cowards. They slipped away from us thanks to that brigade of misfits that came along to help them." Erika growled.

"Talk about perfect timing." Katyusha added.

Erika turned her head to Katyusha and scowled, "That's not helping us."

"Come on, Itsumi-san. Can't I have some fun?"

"Okay, fine." Erika returned.

"So, now what's your brilliant plan for tomorrow?" Katyusha asked.

"I'll think of something as we go along. It's almost noon."

As the Nonna watched Katyusha and Erika walk away, Maho was watching Shiho and Ami do the same. The two girls turned to each other.

"Suppose you know what they're talking about?" Maho asked.

"Something, I'm sure of it." said Nonna.

Maho and Nonna walked with each other for a while and came to one of the Death Valley High Transit Stations. Once the two were seated in one of the trams, they made their way across the city. Below and around them, the skyscapers surrounded them in a tall and urban jungle. Both of the girls looked out the windows at the city around them.

"I always wanted to go to America." Maho said breaking the long pause, "Even though my mother keeps telling me that the United States is not a fair place for people like us, I still always wanted to visit there for vacation."

Nonna sighed, "I hear you. These boys don't deserve any of this trouble."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to help this school win." Maho suddenly spoke.

"Wait a minute, how do think we could accomplish that?" Nonna asked standing up from her seat.

"Tomorrow's parade seems like a good day to formulate a plan for those boys to retake their ship. They could attack certain positions to lock down each group of tanks from attacking. They also could…"

Nonna interrupted, "Hold on my friend. I think you're going over your head on this."

"I'm tired of seeing all of our schools fight over these shenanigans. It's ridiculous and not worth the time." Maho replied in anger.

"Calm down, we'll think of something. Maybe we could send those boys down in the canyon a message about our thoughts and see what happens next?" the tall girl suggested.

"How do know if they are down in that narrow canyon or not?" Maho asked.

"Everyone was looking in that direction when the attack happened or I expect that's where they went."

"If that's true, then that's where our letter will go." Maho said, "We should get to work on things."

"Very well, then. I will try to get some information about tomorrow's event to Ms. Kawasaki. If she could get Pravda's tanks to join in the march as well that would be perfect." Nonna said.

"Alright then, let's do this." Maho said positively, "Before I forget, I haven't gotten your name yet."

"It's Nonna and yours is Maho correct?"

"Uh huh."

The two then sat next to each other and waited for their tram ride to end at the next avaliable stop. Meanwhile, in the canyon below, the Death Valley tankery team was outside, enjoying the sun before it fell again in the late afternoon. Drake and his friends were all sitting around a table, awaiting any new information that came to them.

"We haven't been at school since the games. What was it like up there?" Johnathan wondered.

Drake began to explain everything that he saw, "Well, it's very different. Boys are now sharing classes with girls and I thought this was a boy's only ship. Now we have them to think about all day. Plus up there, our school uniforms change to these odd looking orange and black patterned shirts and grey shorts. Plus, the American flag is gone and they replaced it with the Japanese one!"

"Sounds like to me that their trying to alter our ways of life." Davian added, "Makes you feel special that you left in the first place, anything else?"

"That's all I know so far." Drake responded, "Besides the fact that I had some...things...happen to me up there."

"Those troublesome chicks." Kyle grumbled.

"Yes and I don't wish to discuss what they did to me in detail. I don't think Thomas or his crew would like to talk about it either."

"We understand. What's important is that we are all one again." Johnathan said.

"Speaking of all of us, where's Ian at?" asked Drake.

"Hmm. Oh, he said he'll be in the garage." Kyle said again.

Drake got up from his seat and wandered back over to the garage area, where he saw Ian standing alone near the entrance. As Drake was coming over, Ian lifted his face to talk to his commander.

"What are you doing over here all by yourself?"

"I've just been...thinking about things."

"You've been acting unenthusiastic lately."

"I feel homesick." he sighed.

"I am too, we all are." Drake answered.

"When do you think that we'll see home again?"

"Soon, Ian, soon. I can guarantee and promise you that we will be home soon."

"Without the teleporter working, how do you expect that we'll escape from here?"

Drake stood next to his radio operator against the wall.

"Please trust me when I say that this problem will all be sorted out. Once we find a way to push the females back to their ships, we could possibly find a way to fix this problem. Then, I'm sure that we will all return home once and for all."

"I guess I'll give it some time." Ian said.

"Yes, we all need time, but time is of the essence." Drake said, "Tomorrow, we are going to give them a fight that they will never forget. It will be one that will determine the future of our lives."

"Sounds like a massive plan."

"It is. I'm certain that when they dust clears, every single one of us will end up alright."

"I apperciate your enthusiasum, Commander." Ian replied to his leader, now standing tall.

"Trust me, Ian. We're all tough. I am certain that we will survive this collision course."

The early evening was beginning to settle as the sun started to set on the flaming horizon. The two girls had finished their planning and decided to send word to the male tankery team. Nonna and Maho were able to sneak out a tiny handheld tape recorder and a note tied to a small parachute. After checking for final mistakes, they walked down the line to find where the boys were located at in the canyon. When they found the small town at the very bottom, they deployed the information down the side of the canyon walls.

"Mission accomplished." Nonna said happily.

"Let's just hope that they all understand that. Now we wait till tomorrow morning." Maho confirmed.

Minutes after it was deployed, the parachute plopped down on Thomas' lap, waking him from his nap. He shouted in fear, not knowing if someone was trying to harm him. All the others came dashing over to see what was happening.

"What's is that thing you have there?" asked the Crusader Tank Commander.

"I don't know? It just came down from above or something like that?"

"Let me see what it is?" Drake said holding out his hand.

"Sure, fine, whatever." Thomas returned while handing over the recorder and paper to his captain.

Opening up the contents of the drop, the cluster of boys were surprised to see a map of the entire layout of the city, with different colored circles and markings on it. Taking the tape recorder from Drake, Eagle Eye placed it in his pocket. Placing the map down on a nearby wooden crate, the Death Valley Tankery Captain allowed everyone else around him to see the page contents.

"What do you suppose this is all about?" asked the loader of the 105 leFH18B2 team.

"Obviously, it's a diagram of some kind of battle plan." replied the M6 driver.

"I'll need to listen to this recording and find out any new info. In the meantime, you should all look over this map and see if we could collect any new information from it."

Back aboard the Kuromorimine ship, Shiho Nishizumi and Ami Chouno were sitting in Shiho's office.

"I'm still not quite sure why you ordered me to open fire at those teenage boys today? Is there an exclamation for that?"

"To put it simple, they have been causing trouble towards us and they've been doing it for some time now." Shiho explained in her usual emotionless tone.

"Well I couldn't see how we could have tried to negotiate with them."

"I've tried to in the past, however, they refuse and show rebellious behaviors towards my girls." Shiho continued.

"I'm curious about how they got the kind of technology that they have to get here in the first place."

"It's probably an extremely long and complicated process, but I wouldn't worry too much about that right now."

Ami stared at Shiho straight in the eye, "Nishizumi-sama, deep within me, I feel like you are keeping something secret under wraps. Within the short time that I have been here, some very strange things have happened to me, including a shootout and an enormous teleportation device. If the military was to see this, you know that things won't be pretty for either one of us. Perhaps you should let me take charge of this situation. It's best that our national guard should know about these top secret things right away."

"I respect your opinions, Chouno-sama. These things must be kept confidental, until we can find a solution to dealing with these Americans."

"I would be very worried about getting involved with problems and foreign affairs with anyone, especially the United States. We don't need another Sino Japanese conflict to arise out of this."

"Leave the problems to me and I can promise you that my girls will take care of it."

Ami leaned forward, "This is big. Maybe the rest of the JGSDF should know about this?"

None of them said anything to one another for a period of time. In spite of the conversation that Shiho had with Ami, she decided to change the subject to the tank parade.

"I would also be very careful about tomorrows event." Ami intruppted, "What if a sudden attack was to happen?"

"Chouno-sama, I understand your concerns but theres no need to be paranoid over this simple affair."

"One. One problem." said Ami, "One problem could start a domino effect of other problems."

"I'm fully aware of this situation. I will assure you that nothing will go wrong."

"I'm just saying, for all of our sakes, I hope that there won't be a problem tomorrow." Ami nervously replied.

She got up quietly from her seat and started to walk towards the door to leave, "I must discuss this similar topic to Katherina. She must stay updated on the matter too."

"Here, I'll walk you out." Shiho politely offered.

After Ami walked outside, Shiho came back in and closed the door behind her. In her head, Shiho said to herself, "No problem indeed. The last thing that I need is some student with a mouth full of blood."

There was much commotion in the canyon that evening as Death Valley gathered around a giant map on a long table inside the warehouse. Once they had completely gathered, Captain Drake, Eagle Eye and Vice Captain Thomas began laying out positions on where to attack.

"Listen up; we've got a lot to say, so please bear with us. So, according to the message on the recorder, the main parade of enemy vehicles will be starting at 8:00 AM sharp tomorrow morning on these streets."

Drake drew a long line over all the streets the tanks would drive down.

"We've got to keep five major points in mind, four to keep secured and one to defend if necessary. Now, Objective Alpha will be the defending zone, here at this Gas Station on the outskirts of old town. It will be our main fuel depot and repair area. It will also be where we will meet after the first guerrilla strike."

Thomas proceeded to mark the next few areas, "Objective Bravo will be the VM Tower over here in town square. We will need some vehicles to hold this point for the entirety of the assault. Objective Charlie will be this small park area here. Its likely that this is an area for covering fire to be layed down at.

Eagle Eye stepped forward, "Objective Delta will be this construction site of a uncompleted skyscraper here. We will likely use this as a radio outpost for me and a few others. Finally, Objective Echo will be on the other side of old town, at this abandoned old church. We will use this as a forwarding station for further strikes on new town."

The three placed the last marker down on the map, "Any hostile straggler tanks will likely go for Objective Alpha or Objective Delta, so keep that in mind once we get dug in. We will all embark to these objectives early at 4:00 AM in order to time the assault right. The last thing that I have to say is that you must avoid Main Street at all costs!" Okay, is there any questions?"

Nobody raised their hands except for Kyle, who raised his hand up at the last moment.

"Oh…yes?"

"What about OUR tank? How are WE going to ride into battle?"

Off to the side, the Death Valley High Tankery Instructor whispered over to Drake, "Hey buddy, come over here and bring the rest of your crew with you."

Drake called for his team to come with him and dismissed himself from the stage. The five walked over to their Tankery Instructor and asked what was up.

"I heard you fellas don't have treads to ride on?"

"Yeah."

"If you don't have your E-100, I could fix you up with something more reasonable." the Instructor explained, "As you know, back in the day, I used to be in the U.S. Heavy Armor Corps and I used to man an MBT crew since I was 25. But now, at the age of 58, I've retired for teaching."

"I know, but how does that have to do with a…" Kyle paused.

"The Instructor walked over to a closed Garage door and punched in the code to unlock it. As it opened, the entire crew was stunned. Sitting in the dimmed lighting of the stall was the Death Valley High Instructors dark olive green XM1 Abrams, with its sleek 105 mm gun shining to the bright lights of the garage.

"No way..." Davian trembled with excitement at the sight.

"How would boys like to ride the Abrams into battle?" the Instructor asked with a large smile on his face.

"Wait a minute. Why would you just give your MBT to a pair of students like us?" asked Drake.

"You guys are some of the finest fighters of tanks that I've seen through my teaching career. You gentlemen have leaded our school to victory in the U.S. Tankery Tournaments for five years in a row and I'm proud to present to you my trophy of gratitude to you. After all, you earned it."

Jonathan began to walk around the tank and closely examined its features.

"Hey, I just realized. This isn't a 120mm Smoothbore Gun. Its too skinny and thin."

"Yeah and why does the armor look so thin as well? Isn't it supposed to be thicker than that?" asked Kyle.

The Instructor came forward and pointed to the turret, "That's because this Abrams here is from 1980. Its an older model of the M1A2 Abrams that you are thinking about."

"Hmm...I can tell by the different features that are on it." Drake observed, "In the end, it doesn't matter. We will still accept this wonderful gift of yours."

"You bet we will!" Ian exclaimed with joy.

The commotion caught the attention of all the other boys in the garage. One by one, they gathered around the XM1 with fascination. Drake and his crew climbed on top of the tank and looked outwards towards the crowd.

"Uhh...was it something I said?" Ian asked with confusion.

All the boys in the garage began blurting out questions about the tank. Drake and the other crew members looked at each other with large grins on their faces.

"Well, guys. Looks like we have some explaining to do."


	17. Chapter 17 - Operation: Gas Guzzler

Chapter 17 - Operation: Gas Guzzler

* * *

The boys worked like ants for most of the night. In and out the students went, bringing in metal, scrap and an assortment of other resources from the town. Within the warehouse, the Death Valley High teams continued to build, brake and forge new items and accessories for their vehicles. In all, new add-ons were placed on the XM1 Abrams, including an additional dozer blade and a simple inferred scope.

The tanks also received new cosmetic features to their tanks, including a new paint job and scrubbing for each. The vehicles all received an american flag decal on the side of their turrets and a new Death Valley High School Emblem on the turret as well. Then, for comedic reasons, they all wrote different quotes on the sides of their vehicles. For instance, the Chi-Ri team painted a long quote on the side there vehicle saying:

**"HEY KURO! WE ARE HERE TO KICK YOU CLEAR OFF OUR BOAT!"**

Another team, the M3 Stuart team, wrote on their tank:

**"CALL ME SHORTY BUT I'LL SHORTEN YOU OUT FIRST!"**

And the T-29 Team wrote:

**"LIBERATORS LIBERATE. CONQUERS CONQUER. MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU NOW?"**

Unlike all the other vehicles, the XM1 Abrams didn't have a graffiti phrase but instead had a fighter plane face painted on the front of it. Kyle said that it would wake the enemy up with a roar.

The night was smooth, until Ami had received word that if she would like to see the teleporter work. Immediately after hearing this, the military woman met up with Shiho and a few other adult representatives. With enough guts in their bodies and with the will to see perfection, they all decided to launch a test with the contraption that night. After hearing the details and precautions, Shiho and Ami came up with a decision.

"We would like to send something non-living to a destination of our choice. It will be a non-living object that will be great to test with."

Bringing out "The Package", the adults all agreed that it was a safe and plausible test. Just like the first test many weeks earlier, the teleportation chamber filled with lights as the beams went through their stages from yellow to orange and to red.

"We will now teleport this object of your choice to your destination." announced the man at the controls to Shiho and Ami.

"We are ready." They both said.

"Very well. We will now commence the experiment in five...four...three...two...one..."

A bright flash of light filled the chamber and static clinged to the metal steel walls. When the lights had dimmed down, everyone peeked out the viewing window with much anxiety to see the results of the test. Surely enough, the vehicle was gone and unlike the first test weeks earlier, there were no disruptions to the system.

"Success." said the spectators in awe.

Across the control room, a boy at the console alerted the others.

"We have just received word that the desired target has been chosen."

"Lets look at the screen." Ami suggested.

In the canyon, a group of boys were sitting outside of the warehouse when they noticed a green beam spit out a large metal object in the far off distance. Fearful of the enemies possible presence, they sprinted inside the warehouse to get Drake and Thomas. After a few minutes, the boys were all walking out in a large crowd to the object that had been teleported into the canyon.

"Oh no! It can't be!" a boy cried out in fear.

"It is." Thomas whispered under his breath.

The teleporter works. Surrounded by small shock bursts of dying green electricity was the same VK 36.01 (H) that got blown up by Black Forests' Jagdtiger during the games. Written in red paint was a message in Japanese.

"I have no idea what that says?" Drake said scratching his head in confusion and worry, "Somebody needs to translate this right now."

Shortly after he said this, Davian handed Drake his phone. Displayed on the screen was a slur of angry sentences.

* * *

**HEED THIS WARNING! SURRENDER NOW WHILE WE STILL HAVE PATIENCE FOR YOU.**

* * *

"Unbelievable." Drake silently murmured, "They have complete control of our creation. Something that we should have used in the first place!"

"This is a sign. A sign that they would do whatever it takes to see their way through." Eagle Eye said.

"Nobody is going to sleep tonight I'm afraid." Thomas replied, "They now have an idea of where we are stationed."

Deep within his brain, Drake remembered the promise that Maho and Nonna made with him in the transport vans. Feeling that he has bee betrayed, the Captain stood up and clinched his fists tightly.

"This is the last straw. Tomorrow is the day we take back our home!" Drake shouted in anger.

"We are with you, Commander." Ian softly said, "We are all in this together and we will all win this together."

"Right." agreed Eagle Eye, "For now, we just have to wait and see."

Drake raised a shaking finger and said in a stuttering voice, "Return to the garage and close up shop. I think that we are pretty much ready for tomorrow."

Following his orders, everyone began to walk back to the warehouse without saying a word. Drakes crew stood silently behind him.

"You too, guys. I need to have some alone time."

"Come on." whispered Johnathan as he signaled the others to follow him.

With tears in his eyes and anger in his brain, Drake banged his fist against the metal hull of the destroyed VK 36.01 (H) and sobbed.

"You Wretched Witches! Why won't you leave us be!? All I want to do is just go home! Is it really that hard to do!?"

Hours passed. Drake found himself staring up at the ceiling of his bunk in the warehouse with the others that night, wondering about the events that would unfold in the waning hours of the next day. He dreamed about being awake and about him and his crew taking back their school ship and thoughts of returning home to Southern California and thoughts of the one wish that they've all been wanting for weeks: FREEDOM.

He turned his head and flashed out his phone; the light beamed brightly off his face and forced him to turn down the brightness. He looked at the numbers that showed on the screen, which showed that it was 2:00 AM.

He sighed, "Damn, I'm not supposed to wake up for two more hours."

He placed his phone back under his pillow. Out of nowhere, he hears hard short breathes and coughing beneath, then the sound of vomiting. The sound woke everyone else around the bunk room and soon afterwards all the lights came on in building.

"What's going on?!" shouted a boy from across the way.

Drake heard the noise and traced it to below his bunk. There, sitting up in a daze with an inflamed face and a pair of glassy eyes was Ian.

"My radio operator is ill!" Drake called back.

People then began to jump out of their beds to inspect the scene. A couple of adults came in with doctors bags and a large first aid kit, beginning to look over the sick child. Then, they told Ian to go with them. Doing what was ordered, Ian moaned and got up to his feet and in a dizzy stance, attempted to walk. As soon as they were gone, everyone met up together in the middle of the bunk room.

"Do you know what happened to him?" Thomas asked nervously.

"No, but he must have the Flu or Fever or Food Poising or something like that, but I don't know what."

"Poor fellow." Kyle said.

"Anyone knows what time it is? My phone is dead." Davian asked while rubbing his eyes.

"It is…2:04 AM." Drake answered.

"What? Two hours before I'm supposed to wake up and shoot things?"

"Correct." Cody chimed from behind the past E-100 Squad.

The adults came back into the room a few minutes later and told everyone to go back to sleep. Drake was told to move his stuff to another empty bunk that was available from across the room while the men cleaned up the mess that Ian had created. After all was finished and quiet again, the lights flashed off and everyone went back to sleep. At four in the morning, Drake's phone began to vibrate at his leg to wake him up. After zooming though breakfast, personal hygiene and dressing into their desert storm fatigues, everyone began to line up at their tanks in the warehouse. Meanwhile, Drake and his crew sat around the cot that Ian was lying on in the side room.

"The doctor said that-" he paused to cough into his sweater sleeve, "I have a high fever of 101 going on 102."

"Oh yeah? Are you going to be alright?" Johnathan asked feeling Ian's forehead, only to have his hand swiped away.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Will they give you any medication at all?"

"Probably not, this is still school after all." Ian shivered under the sheets.

"Come on, we've still got a battle to win." Drake said waving for the others at the door.

"Hoorah." said the other three to themselves as they exited the building.

"Take care now, you hear?" Drake said.

"Gotcha." Ian saluted.

The blast doors of the facility opened up to reveal the dark rugged terrain of the arid landscape. All of the tanks and the five SPG's followed Drake and his crews XM1 Abrams to the lift on the other side of the canyon. The night sky was still hanging in the atmosphere and the stars were still shining brightly, like crystals in a pitch black cave. On the other hand, the moon was slowly beginning to decent to the east. Once all of the vehicles were at the lifting platform, the teams lined up their machines to ascend to the surface again. By weight class, starting with the Chi-Ha and ending with the T-29, the tanks traveled upward to the city. When everyone was at surface level again, the teams began to drive through the dark to their five assigned holding points and positioned themselves for the fight that would begin in four hours.

Drake was looking around at the quiet streets, which were desolate and empty. While sitting near Drakes feet, Kyle looked up and saw his commander praying silently to himself. He wouldn't blame Drake, it almost seemed like a suicide mission after all. What was about to happen in four hours would determine the path for the schools future. During the setup time, Davian was outside of the XM1 Abrams and was inspecting the 105 mm Rifled Gun, just to make sure that it wasn't broken or loose in any way possible. Johnathan was sitting in his Loader seat and was counting over the number of safety modified cold war shells that the XM1 had to its disposal.

Cody and Thomas were sitting in their tanks and were reading over the procedure for one last time before they prepared for battle. With loyalty to their team captain, they were ready to do whatever was necessary to push the opposing forces away from Death Valley and to liberate what was first their's back again.

Maho Nishizumi was sitting silently at her desk in her dorm, looking at her cap that she wore during Panzerfahren. She sighed and wondered if her plan would prevail when it was in the right hands. She placed the cap on her head and looked at herself in the mirror. Nonna was laying in her bed and was staring out at the moon in the cloudless night sky. She began to wonder about the choices that she had made leading up to this event and wondered how this would effect the three forces when they begin to fight.

Erika Itsumi was reading a copy of an outdated Pravda Paper on her lap and began to curse silently to herself while she scowled at the print. The lack of any lighting on in her room caused her to squint at the inky words that illuminated from the white sheets of paper. Katyusha was sleeping her bed with her face in her pillow. She quietly snored while dreaming about the upcoming events of the parade and the amount of people that would be cheering for her.

Ami Chouno was reading a small pocket journal that she kept in her satchel during her time off duty. She was editing a section in her journal detailing about her odd experience on board the school vessels and thought to herself about what would happen next. Shiho Nishizumi was standing alone in her office, while staring at a mural of Panzerkraft on one of the walls. She was murmuring to herself about the dominance of the Nishizumi Name and how it will defeat anyone or anything that stands in its path.

Everything had finally fallen into place. Operation Gas Guzzler was now underway...

Later that morning, Katyusha still had her face buried in her pillow, when she heard the ringing of her alarm clock go off. She started to feel around for the clock but only felt the cold top of a wood nightstand next to her bed. Finally, she found the alarm clock by feel and tried to find the button, but she couldn't do it. She simply decided to grab the clock and throw it against the wall to stop the ringing. The commotion also woke up the room next to hers and caused the girls to knock on Katyusha's door.

Upon entering the tank garages, the short leader met up with Nonna and the others for the instructions on the parade.

"Good morning, Commander. How did you sleep last night?" Nonna asked.

She groaned, "Not so good. I have been tossing and turning since I woke up at 5:30 this morning."

Nonna placed a finger near her lips, "Do you need something to wake you?"

"Quiet! You're not helping!" snapped Katyusha pointing at her taller Vice Captain, "Help with the others prepare for the fight!"

Nonna didn't answer back. Instead, she followed her orders and assisted the others prepare their tanks. She began to feel a little more irritated with her leader as the event drew closer and began to wonder if not following her orders was the best thing to do. But, all and all, she decided to forget about the idea and go with the flow instead of arguing with Katyusha.

After a brief review with Katherina, the girls drove down to Death Valley High, where Kuromorimine's crews were already waiting in line for them. Shiho, Katherina and Ami were on the top floor of the VM Tower, staring down at the tanks as they got into line formation.

"They look impressive." Ami commented in great interest.

"I know right. I'm so proud of all their hard work. Good idea about this event."

"My friends, think nothing of it." Shiho returned.

At the control points, Death Valley's tankery teams waited patiently for Drake to give the word to engage. Drake had to waited for Eagle Eye to give the real word, who was among the crowds as an undercover spy for the freedom fighters. At the school, boys and girls were lined up in large groups and stood behind a line of tape that cut off fences to watch the performance. The video itself was filmed live from a large television screen was being posted on top of a short building for those who couldn't see very well from the back. The show was also being recorded from multiple sources, including two to three Japanese news helicopters and the schools camera and photography team, who had a filming crew and filming equipment with themselves. While searching for a place to investigate, Eagle Eye pinched a secret microphone under his shirt collar to communicate with Drake and the other teams.

"Alright, I've spotted a couple of images on that T.V. screen that they have here at my position." Eagle Eye reported.

"Good, where are those cameras located?" asked Thomas.

"Appears that there are two on Main, focusing north."

"Solid copy." reported the radio operator of the Bishop, "Say, should we send out the first shots to the enemy now?"

"Negative, that seems too risky. What happens if we hit the audience by mistake?" warned the G.W. Panther commander.

"He's got a point, let's just make the scouts do their job first." said the radio operator of one of the two M4 Shermans.

Suddenly, Eagle Eye interrupted the radio line, "I think they are beginning their parade. There appears to be some sort of foreign anthem blasting all around me. It sounds German."

"Sooo...they're Nazi's?"

"Cut the funny business and prepare yourselves, guys." Thomas snapped.

"Copy, everyone keep on coms until my say so." Drake ordered, "Light armored tanks, prepare for your run."

"They want a show, then we'll give them a show." snickered the Leopard Driver tightening his helmet.

All the scouting tanks, which included: the M5 Stuart, the Leopard, the Chi- Ha, and the Luchs, started their engines and waited for the go to be given to strike. Back around the school, the first of the tanks were beginning their run in front of the crowd. The majority of the crowds began to cheer, though it was mostly female. The majority of males, however, either were clapping or were silent, their faces bleak and expressionless. The first five tanks of Pravda and Black Forest Peak came past the crowds with upward guns.

In the distance, Eagle Eye asked for the microphone from one of the electricity staff on the sidelines. Afterwards, another five tanks came past and at the third passing group came a loud boom from the opposite direction of the parade. Everyone was silent once the sound had filled the air. Eagle Eye cleared his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" he shouted, "I give you...The Spectrum of Dark and Light!"

At the very same moment that he said this, the Death Valley High scouts started shooting at the enemy vehicles down the street. Like animals in self defense mode, the crowds began to flee from sight (with the exception of the camera crew). In the midst of the chaos, Eagle Eye noticed a familiar face in the hordes of students running away from the battle. All of a sudden, it hit him on who it was.

"Sentinel? Sentinel, you traitor!" Eagle Eye yelled while charging straight at him.

The boy noticed this and began to flee in the opposite direction.

From behind the line of tanks, Maho noticed smoke coming from behind several buildings. She knew exactly what was happening, Nonna did too. On the other hand, Erika and Katyusha went up in a bad panic mode trying to figure out what was happening up ahead.

Itsumi grabbed the mic from her radio operators hand, "Squad! We've got hostiles!"

"Spread out you fools and rat out those vermins!" ordered Katyusha.

From afar, Drake looked through his binoculars at the sight in front of the school. Two of his vehicles, the Chi- Ha and the Leopard lay in a heap of smoke while Kuromorimines Panzer III was leaking gasoline all over the road. Everyone had fled from sight, following the Luchs team and M5 Stuart team driving over to the Abrams. Drake leaned over to talk to them.

"There goes the one and only light tank of the two schools." shouted the commander of the M5 Stuart over the sound of the engines.

"Well." he sighed, "Time for the war to truly begin. We're going to wait for a while before moving in. Tell the others to get to the objectives.

"Will do." said the Luchs commander as the two scouts raced away.

"Now what do we do?" Davian asked from below. He was busy polishing the lense of the gunners scope.

"We wait. The situation is not that bad for us just yet." replied Johnathan.

"Attention all teams; it's time to move in! Follow me!" commanded Thomas from his IS.

At Objective Alpha, the Churchill I, T-28 Russian medium, and M7 Priest waited before pushing onwards towards the enemy. At Objective Echo, the two new VK 36.01 (H)'s and two M4 Shermans started off and at Objective Delta, the M6, the Crusader, the Jagdpanther and 105 leFH18B2 charged.

The rest of the tanks, including Cody and his squads Hellcat, Thomas and his teams IS, the Matilda, the G.W. Panther, the SU-8, the Bishop, the M5 Stuart, the Luchs, the Chi-Ri, the T-29 and the M10 Wolverine charged inwards to capture Objective Bravo and Charlie. Drake and his crew waited on the hilltop outside the city to fire at targets from their XM1.

In the panic of the attacks, both Pravda and Kuromorimines forces were sent in disarray and had forgotten their formations. In a desperate situation, it was hard to decide whether the girls should rush the enemy or wait for the boys to find them. Three Panthers, the KV-2 and one of the two Tiger II's drove off in the direction of Objective Charlie, with Maho's Tiger I, Katyusha's T-34-85 and the Ferdinand waited at Objective Bravo. On the top floor of the VM Tower, the three women began to panic.

"What in the blazes is going on down there!?" exclaimed Katherina.

"I thought you said that we would have no complications today?" Ami stated pointing at Shiho in question.

"Well, I didn't know that this would happen?" she replied back, "You need to stop them."

"Why me? Is it because of my armor and my combat experience? I'm starting to have my suspicions that your only using me."

Shiho only scowled. Ami walked away from the two other woman and grabbed a big duffle bag that was near the elevator. She walked into the open aluminum chamber and took it down to the lowest floor. When doors opened up, she was out of her uniform and in her combat gear, ready to mobilize and fight the enemy. She ran out of the building and behind the action.

"I see multiple targets inbound!" shouted the Ferdinand Commander.

"Fire on our go!" Maho and Katyusha shouted at the same time.

The Death Valley Luchs Team and Matilda Team came around the corner a second later and had only a moment to spare before three firey shots pummeled their vehicles. By now the whole Main Street of the school ship was bathed in smoke. Katyusha ordered a blind shot to be fired at the screen and to destroy its support cables. Maho watched silently as they began to inflict damage upon the general area.

What many people didn't realize was that the Japanese News Helicopters were still flying high in the sky, filming the carnage that was happening below. All over Japan, people were glued to their television screens as they watched the battle continue. The word got around to most of the tankery schools and soon after that, the teams were watching the situation intensify on Death Valley High.

"Why are they doing this?" exclaimed Orange Pekoe, "Darjeeling-san, why is this happening?"

"I've never seen something this fierce before. It's almost like a war is raging on that boat."

At Saunders University High, the tankery team was crowded around the TV's hanging in the classrooms.

"Those people are nuts!" shouted Alisa from the back of the room, "They're acting like little children with this battle."

"Fascinating." Kay said in awe at the sight of the fighting, "I never suspected that such things can be."

Naomi closed her eyes and crossed her arms, "Remember that thing you said about Sensha-do not imitating war. Well, it looks like your nightmare is coming true."

Kay's face became downcast, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Another noticeable sign was that the students of Death Valley High were actually running in groups throughout the city, hoping to help the male tankery club in any way that they could. The sign of defiance was in the air as the police tried to subside them. Those who managed to get past the police barricades got to the tanks.

"Who are you, guys?" asked the driver of the IS.

"Your actions are getting some sense into us. We are here to support you guys the best that we can."

Cody looked at Thomas in confusion then back to the boys, "Uhhhh...Okay, then help build us up some defenses."

"Captain, I hate to ruin your fun but we're losing ground!" shouted the M10 Wolverine Commander.

At Objective Alpha, a few Death Valley High tanks were camping nearby, waiting for the approaching enemies. Seconds later, four Black Forest Peak Panthers came trucking down the street with their cannons at the ready.

"Come on boys! Fresh meat!" shouted the SU-8 artillery loader.

The five scattered artillery fired shots into the air and watched as they came pummeling down next to the Panthers.

"Quickly! Finish them off while we still have a chance!"

The teams hidden around Objective Alpha charged around and surrounded the Panthers. Once they were sure that the enemy was immobilized, they reported back to Drake.

"Four hostile Panthers are eliminated at Alpha!"

"I heard that." Ian said over the radio, "Whats next, guys."

"Damn, I can't tell whose winning or losing?" said Kyle.

"We are going find out pretty quick here, start the engines." commanded Drake.

As he watched the smoke rising up from immobilized tanks and artillery guns in the distance, Kyle started the XM1's engine.

"Gun at the ready, dude." Davian answered.

"Great. Lets give these soup cans Hell." said Johnathan.

As they approach the action, Jagdpanther-Chan and two T-34's were unknowingly coming closer to the XM1's 105 mm rifled M68 gun. She stopped her tank destroyer and the other two T-34 as the XM1 Abrams came to a stop at a nearby intersection. The girls watched in terror as the tank shifted its hull and turret towards them in less than three seconds. Drake peeked through the periscope at the enemies in front of them.

"Thats the same girl that... Okay, whenever you are ready to engage, do so."

"Come on, girls. Take them out!" shouted Jagdpanther-Chan ducking down into the vehicle.

Delivering her wish, the XM1's gun fired at the tank destroyer's track, but ended up ripping off both the track and metal gears of the Jagdpanther and knocking it clear onto its side. The other two commanders squealed as they ducked down in to their tanks and fled, the result was the Abrams firing shots into their backs and blowing up their concealed engines, sending the front end of their vehicles upwards with a crash. The force of the blow caused one of the tanks to splash engine fuel all over the nearby windows of the street side shops.

"Talk about power to the punch! Heh, fine shooting Davian." Johnathan congratulated while loading in another shell.

"No problem." he said, "Good thing that we are only using school standard shells or else that would have been bad."

"Bad enough. Your a panzer murderer." Kyle added from his observation of the mess that they had created.

"Let's keep moving guys." Drake spoke, "We can bask in our glory later."

Nonna and a clan of five other T-34's heard the distress call from the XM1 Abrams victims and began to advance towards their positions. The only thing they got were rushing fireballs of steel zooming straight at them and a brunch of fire covered Russian mediums lying broken in the middle of the streets. Drake noticed Nonna raising a white flag over her tank.

"Another sucker coming up."

"Do it." Drake said feeling no sympathy.

The gun fired but missed Nonna by an inch. Her face was covered with shock when she came to, realizing that an allied tank was firing at her. Her face turned from fear to anger as she tried to communicate with Drake.

"Gun it! Get me out of here now!" Drake thundered.

The boys bypassed Nonna and her IS-2 as both her and Drake shook heads at each other. At the same time as that was happening, the Jadgtiger and other Tiger II (not Erika's) came storming towards a makeshift roadblock that the Hellcat Crew, the IS Crew, the Chi- Ri Crew and a few random schoolboys had made in the middle of a street. The Jagdtiger immediately wiped out the vacant Chi-Ri while the other boys took shelter behind the debris set up.

"This is not exactly what I had planned." stuttered one of the students, "We're sitting ducks behind this baricade."

"Its not us that they want, its ours tanks."

"That armor is too thick from the front." Cody said.

"Forget about this one, let's support the other vehicles!" Thomas shouted.

While looking at the panicing boys near him, one of the supporters fell to his stomach and started crawling around the debris undetected. While the Jagdtiger and Tiger II were waiting for a reaction from the others, the supporter was able to get behind the two Kuromorimine tanks and aquired a rag from the sidewalk. With an evil grin, he wadded the cloth in his hands and shoved it into the Jagdtigers exhaust pipe. After this, he got on top of the vehicle and started hopping on top of it.

"What the-"

"Look!" exclaimed Thomas, "He's distracting them."

"Now is our chance." whispered Cody.

"You baka! Get off of my roof!" yelled the Jagdtiger Commander.

The boy stood down on top of the exit hatch to keep the girls below him from getting out. This also caused the Tiger II team to stare at their ally, trying with all their combined effort, of trying to get the boy off of their tank destroyer. Undetected, the Hellcat fired at the Jagdtigers right track and blew away one of its gears.

"Engaging!" shouted the IS Crew.

The Soviet heavy fired its giant cannon below the mighty King Tiger and stop it in its tracks.

"Move it! They are weak!"

All at once, the Hellcat and IS tanks sped off, while the Chi-Ri Crew and school supporters hid behind cover once again. Looking upwards, they saw the Death Valley High Photography Club stroll by with their camera equipment in hand.

"Try to look scared. Your about to be seen by millions of people."

Not saying another word, the boys began to pose and shake as if the enemies behind the debris were waiting to shoot at them. Across the nation, the Japanese people were blown away by this footage.

"Those boys look really frightened." said Orange Pekoe.

Darjeeling pondered, "I would never expect these girls to act so...hostile."

"Oh my Sweet Lady Liberty! Real Life American Boys!" Kay squealed with glee, not minding the facial expressions.

"So what?" Alisa said impatiently, "I don't know who's who."

"Neither do I." Naomi replied, "Who's the good guy in this fire fight?"

At Objective Alpha, the M7 Priest was knocked out, while the T-28 medium and the Churchill I tried to hold off the position against Erika's Tiger II and the flood of T-34's and Jagdpanzer IV's. Unfortanetly, they were soon imobilized.

"We're losing tanks too fast! We must fight harder!" said the commander of the male Jagdpanther.

"We need to rethink our strategy."

Drake thought for a moment and then reached down for the microphone, "We need to fall back to old town. This area's been compromised."

"Roger, shifting that way." Kyle said.

Over the line, Ian was heard sneezing and carrying on with his sickness.

"Anyone know where Eagle Eye is?" asked the Jagdpanther team.

"Your right." Drake murmured, "Eagle, why are you not helping?"

"Kind of busy right now." replied a wheezing sound over the static.

"Eagle, what's going on?"

"Not now. Got to go... Stop squirming, will you!"

"Who was he talking to?" Davian wondered.

Johnathan sighed, "Beats me."

On the way to the connecting bridges, the XM1 Abrams ran across the enemy Jagdtiger on the way. A shot came from the enemy, but completely missed the swerving Abrams. The boys circled around the back of the giant machine and shot it straight in the back storage doors. A cloud of black smoke filled the air. Once it was dealt with, the XM1 drove down the VM Tower road and came across Katyusha, Maho and the Ferdinand out front.

Remembering her promise with Drake, she turned her gun and fired upon Katyusha's engine. The XM1 shot the Ferdinand in the side armor and stopped it in place, and then the boys fired at Maho before speeding away.

"Hey, what the hell was that!?" Katyusha yelled at Maho.

"Why did they shoot me for?" she thought.

Shiho and Katherina emerging from the VM Tower and witnessed the whole incident unfold in front of them.

"They think that they can overpower the Nishizumi Name, well then, they thought wrong." Shiho said to herself, "Maho. You must stop that vehicle at all costs."

Maho quickly bowed to her mother while in her tank, "I will give them a fight fit for a king."

While almost to the bridge, the Abrams suddenly began to pick up disturbing radio chatter. It sounded like a mix of yelling with screaming and coxical machine guns firing.

"Where the hell is that sound coming from?" Drake asked covering his ears from the noise.

"Objective Delta." said Ian quietly, "You better hurry and see what's up."

When the XM1 pulled around the corner to the Delta Base Construction Site, they were greeted by the bodies of smoking and gasoline drenched tanks and the enormous Panzer VIII Maus.

"Get us out!" yelled Drake.

The chase began. The Maus, though slower than the XM1, managed to get a few close shots next to it. The battle came to a head when the Abrams stalled, turning its front face towards the enemy.

"Oh no! What happened?" Davian asked.

"The blasted gear is jammed!"

"Well go out and help me fix it, you knuckleheads!" shouted Drake.

The two began to work on the messy mechanics as fast as they could when out of nowhere, far down the main road behind them, the Maus appeared once more.

"Blast! Just something to make our day worst." Kyle groaned while peeping his head through the diver's viewport.

"Brace yourselves!" Johnathan shouted ducking within the turret.

The superheavy fired a metal round into the front of the Abrams' turret. Those watching the livestream through the Japanese Helicopters thought that it was over for them. When the dust cleared, the frontal hull armor only had a dent in it. Everyone around the mega screen in Tokyo gasped. Drake began to laugh triumphantly, as if he was a god of some sort.

"Now that's when 400mm of armor comes in handy." Kyle said shaking at the wheel.

"Now, it's my turn." Johnathan growled while taking control of the trigger.

Loading up a set of live rounds that the team had managed to locate under the floor boards, Johnathan steadily peered through the periscope for an accurate shot. The XM1 fired and sent the flaming round into the boxed under glacis of the giant. Though it penetrated, it didn't necessarily stop the Maus in its tracks. The giant returned fire, but only doinked off the 350mm frontal hull armor once more. The Abrams returned fire and this time, with much luck, hit the Maus' engine and torched it.

"We're on fire! Put it out!" the Maus commander yelled in panic.

"That does it! I'm going to ram them!" growled the Maus driver under her breath.

As the heavy was about to do so, a chain of perfect timing events occurred. The tank was repaired, and then the Abrams drove forward slowly. Right as the Maus was going to hit them, a shot from another tank penetrated the Maus' side hull armor, almost like a hot knife through butter. The sound of shrieking rubber was heard and a Type 10 stopped inches away from hitting the superheavy tank.

"That was too close." Ami groaned with her face covered in persperation.

"They went over the curved section of the bridge. We can't shoot them." reported the Maus gunner to the rest of her crew.

"We have to go over the other bridge back over there if we want to catch them." Ami instructed to her team members.

The Japanese MBT raced as fast as its treads could go to the other bridge to catch up with the other American tank. Stopping for a break, the Abrams Crew all took in a huge breath, relieved that they had actually survived the deadly encounter.

"When this all ends, I think that I will ditch school for a couple days." said Kyle.

"You've got that right." Drake chukled.

After the crew caught their breath again, they crossed the rest of the bridge. Staring at his watch and at the rest of the things around him, Drake covered his face with both of his hands.

"Give me a break. It's only nine flipping o'clock in the morning."


	18. Chapter 18 - Balanced On A Knife Edge

**Author's Note: Hello again, fellow readers. This is it. We are back to where we ended, only this time, I can assure you that this ending will blown your socks off. Indeed, this will definitly leave you shocked, excited and hungry for what lies at the end of this chapter (NO SKIPPING PLEASE)!**

**Anyways, I would like to thank everyone who gave me the momentum to finish the rewrite of this Fanfic and I hope that you will all enjoy reading its grand finale.**

* * *

Chapter 18 - Balanced On A Knife Edge (Finale)

* * *

After reaching the other side of the bridge, Drake ordered Kyle to stop the tank, so he could see what was happening behind them. Taking a short glimpse behind his shoulder, he saw no hostile vehicles coming their way, nor was anything shooting at them. Drake took in another deep breath before ordering the team to continue onward. They drove down the road a little more and met up at the final destination: The Abandoned Church at Objective Echo. The group of two VK 36.01 (H)'s and the two M4 Sherman were still standing at their positions, surrounded by burning T-34-85's and Panthers.

"Looks like you guys had fun over here." Drake chuckled.

"You bet we did." said one of the Sherman Commanders.

"We are just waiting for the others to arrive."

"Copy, get into battle positions in case the enemy gets here first."

Minutes later, the rest of the crews arrived at the point. Most of them scratched up from battle, while one or two were bleeding from a face or arm cut.

"Geez, man. You would think that they would take better care of themselves out there?" said Thomas.

Drake only grunted in response and asked for a progress report. One of the wounded tank members from another team came over to him. After clearing his throat, he began to read the papers.

"During the holdout at Objective Delta, we lost two more vehicles: the 105 leFh18b2 and the M6 Heavy. The Crusader and the Jagdpanther teams managed to escape in time and the groups eliminated an entire group of Panthers and a handful of Jagdpanzer IV's."

"Kudos to them." Cody said in amazement, "They should be rewarded for their bravery."

"Yeah, I will think about that." said Drake.

The boy continued reading, "Umm, on the way here, we also lost the M5 Stuart, the Bishop and the M5 Wolverine at Objective Delta."

"That's not much of a big surprise. The Maus probably gave them a good beating." said Davian.

"Heck, I'll tell you this. There is no such kill more deadlier than overkill." Cody stated.

"Hope that we aren't next." answered one of the other boys in the back.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that any longer. Thanks to the XM1, your guys' support and that foolish Type 10 Driver back there, the beast has been slain." Drake said proudly.

"Wow, what else happened?" asked the others in unison.

"The SU-8 group fell behind the pack and we lost them. However, I don't recall them being shot, though."

"What do you think happened then?" asked a crew member from the G.W. Panther in the background.

"How am I supposed to know? I was too worried about driving this heap of metal to not think much about it."

Suddenly, in the distance, the boys heard someone calling them.

"Hey, guys! You wouldn't believe what I just fished out from the sea of people back there?!"

Everyone looked back to see Eagle Eye dragging a tied up Sentinel behind him on the sidewalk. The boy had the tied up captive in one hand and a notepad and pen in the other.

"Well, well, well. If it ain't our good old friend Sentinel." Thomas smiled.

In his restraints, the boy yelled out, "My name is not Sentinel! It's Alexander!"

Eagle Eye threw him onto the ground, everyone circled around him.

"Here you go." Eagle Eye offered Drake the pen and notepad, "This is what he's been writing all his new ideas down for this so called Pravda paper that he has been ranting on about.

"You should get a medal for your labor of dragging this snitch all the way over here."

"It wasn't easy, let's just say that." Eagle Eye said while walking back over to Sentinel.

"Come on, lets beat this fool up for all the trouble that he has caused us!" shouted Thomas while cracking his knuckles.

"Negatory. I'm afraid that wouldn't be necessary." Drake said holding up a hand and bending down to Sentinel, who was still tied up on the ground, "He's not worth killing over."

Sentinel let out a sigh a relief.

"Do tell me, though. What sort of things have they been filling your head up with? What sort of lies have you been fed?"

"Nothing important." Sentinel replied.

"Come on! This guy is totally messing around with us." groaned Cody.

"I'm being serious." Sentinel said shaking his head.

Drake bent down to his knees, "What sort of things have you been exposed to up there, huh?"

The boy was unresponsive.

"Take him away and put him somewhere safe, so that I could have a little chat with him later on." Drake ordered.

The G.W. Panther crew followed his orders and took the snitch away.

"I don't get it? Why did you let him off easy like that?" Kyle asked.

"He's really not worth getting pissed off over. We have bigger fish that we need to worry about."

"That sounds wise of you to let him off easy." Cody replied.

"Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment." Drake said in return, "I'm going to follow up with that crew and our captive."

Drake then hurried off to catch up with the G.W Panther crew and Sentinel while the others prepared for the upcoming assault. At that time, Thomas took over until Drake returned.

Out in the far distance, Erika and her crew were searching in and around the Gas Station point; scavenging for all the fuel and ammunition that their tanks could hold. Ami came rolling up in curiosity.

"Those imbeciles might have destroyed our toughest armor, but they left something very valuable behind." Erika said to herself.

"What are you girls doing?" Ami asked formally.

"Oh, these boys were kind enough to leave fuel and ammo around for us to shoot with." Erika said politely back, hoping for a positive response.

"Interesting… I need your help with eliminating these gentlemen on the other end of town. Would your platoon ride along with me?" Ami asked.

"We're low on units, though. There are only four of us, with two more on the way."

"I'll handle most of them, while you provide suppressing fire. Does that sound like a better plan?"

"If it ensures our victory." Erika responded.

Nonna's IS-2 and Maho's Tiger I came treading over the bridge a couple seconds later and reunited with the platoon, adding up all the remaining female forces to the number of seven units total.

"Kommandant, we were able to salvage some ammunition and fuel in order to make our attack more effective." Erika reported.

Maho stepped down from her tank, "Good, this will make things more smoother for us."

"Commander Katyusha has unfortunately been neutralized." Nonna replied to the others.

"Indeed, but we must continue without her if we are to succeed." Erika firmly answered, "Now, there's not a moment to lose! We must attack now!"

Within Maho's Tiger I, a voice came over the radio. It was Shiho Nishizumi.

"Maho? If you can hear this, report any remaining forces to the front of the school immediately."

When she heard this, the commander alerted the others.

"Everyone listen up. I have just been alerted by the Instructor to return to the front of the boys school."

"What for?" asked Erika.

"I guess that we'll find out once we get there."

When Ami noticed the girls saddling up again, she asked why they were all leaving.

"The Instructor needs us to return to the school." said Erika.

Hearing this, Ami ignored the message and prepared for her own expedition. All the teams got into their vehicles and started to tread back towards the school. When they arrived, the girls were escorted into a tunnel that led into the ships interior. When the tunnel ended, they all came face to face with the Death Valley High Teleporter. From the control room above, Shiho reached over to the microphone.

"Attention! This is our last resort to bring justice back to this ship. Line up and move your tanks into the machine. We will teleport you all one by one to the battlefield."

At Objective Echo, the males were waiting around for the sight of the enemy to appear down the road. Around them, the atmosphere of the battle hung in the wind. Aside from the sound of sirens and helicopter propellers, the only other sound that was in the air was the noise of chattering. Standing next to each other, Cody and Thomas were surveying the landscape with binoculars. They hid within the belfry, hoping that they will see the enemy first before the enemy saw them.

"See them?" Cody asked.

"Not yet." Thomas returned, "Keep your eyes open. They'll be here any minute now."

A few seconds later, shots were heard in the distance. Looking up to the skies, the Jagdpanther team noticed fiery orange flares coming down towards them. When they hit the ground, everyone in the nearby area began to scatter. Drake and the G.W Panther crew came running down the hill to see what happened. When the smoke cleared, both M4 Sherman's and the Crusader tank laid in a heap of burnt steel. Thankfully, the crews managed to escape, but they were pretty shaken up.

"Why is are artillery going berserk?" Drake asked frantically.

"I have no idea!" Cody yelled over the noise.

In the distance, the female brigade also heard the shots coming from the self propelled gun.

"Why are they shooting their own artillery at each other?" Nonna wondered.

Then, all at once, it occurred to her that one of the girl teams that have been knocked out had must of stolen one of the artillery vehicles.

"But who? Katyusha..."

"Give me a hand with this shell, will you?" asked Katyusha's loader.

All the other girls struggled together to pick up the shell and slide it into the gun.

"Come on! Hurry up! They're probably searching for us right now!" Katyusha demanded as she jumped up and down ferociously.

The SPG fired another round into the air and watched as it came down near the clustered group of black tanks behind the skyscrapers.

"Anyone got any ideas!?" Thomas asked anxiously over the radio.

One of the other radio operators broke in, "I have an idea! Split up and make the artillery have more trouble searching for us."

Hearing this, the groups began to drive away in different directions. The T-29 crew was unfortunate to drive straight and come in contact with Ami and her Type 10. Failing to penetrate her armor, the heavy tank was knocked out. Another crew, one of the remaining VK 36.01 (H)'s, decided to hunt down the artillery by going over the closest bridge. Once they had reached the other side, the team was stopped short by the abandoned Maus that was blocking the exit to the streets. The crew was shot by Ami's MBT from far off in the distance. The force of the impact made their tank take air and hit the supporters of the bridge, making the tank hit the road with a hard thud.

"I think that I'm getting the hang of this new computer system." said the gunner of the Type 10.

"I bet you are, rookie." Chouno replied, "Driver, move onward towards the church and eradicate the others. Do not hit your targets cockpits."

The girls continued to load into the teleporter one after another and get zapped towards their destinations. Drake and his Abrams team ran across Maho and Nonna, who both appeared around the same area at the same time. Still holding the thought of a false promise in his head, Drake ordered Davian to open fire upon them.

"Stop shooting at us! We are trying to help you!" Maho yelled.

Drake frowned, "Why should we after you sent us that hateful message yesterday night?"

"What hateful message?" Nonna asked.

"The burnt out VK 36.01 (H) that says that we should surrender or suffer."

The two other commanders stared at each in confusion. Drake silently waited for an answer from the two girls. From above them, a strain shell came shooting down from the sky above them.

"Who's using that artillery?" Drake feverishly asked.

"My commander." Nonna replied.

"You mean that short blonde haired girl with that odd helmet?"

"That's the one. We must stop her before she tears apart the remainder of the city because of a lousy aim."

"Well, you two need to go hide or else the rest of my teams will be out to get you."

"Can't you just tell them that we're friendlies like what were supposed to do in the first place?" Maho asked again.

"About that…This thing has no radio."

The two glared back at him in disapproval before they all drove off. Meanwhile, the G.W. Panther team managed to hit and immoblize a hostile Jagdpanzer IV that just appeared in the area. Katyusha's team managed to fire a shot that landed on top of the machines engine in the frontal compartment. On the bright side, nobody was seriously injured.

While storming through the city, the KV-2 spawned in front of Cody and his Hellcat team, causing the vehicle to come to a screeching halt.

"Ekk! Derp gun dead ahead!" Cody exclaimed.

The Hellcat fired at the frontal turret of the giant but the shell bounced off the angled box.

"Tee hee, you dummies." giggled the KV-2 Commander.

Cody and his crew remembered the problem at the tournament, recalling the open turret top. In panic, the boys scrambled out of the Tank Destroyed as fast as they could. The KV-2 sent the Hellcat over backwards, snapping its main gun in half like a twig. The boys watched as Commander Nina stuck her tongue out at them and giggle again. Halfway down the street, a fireball came piercing through the turrets rotator and shredded it completely out of place. The Hellcat team laughed as the XM1 Abrams drove by.

"Comrade Katyusha, we're all out of shells." said her personal loader.

"No! How come?!" Katyusha raged in anger.

"We just shot them all that's…"

A loud banging noise was heard in the distance as the original crew of the SU-8 ran screaming towards the girls to give back their vehicle. Hands reached up and girls began to squeal as they were being pulled off the vehicle. Then, the boys got rope and ran around the pack, wrapping them all together into a brunch with their backs touching. The team dusted their hands off with satisfaction as they drove away with their SU-8, leaving Katyusha and her team struggling to get free.

Over the radio, Drake heard the boys saying something about the girls' status.

"We've got them on the run!" Ian exclaimed in joy.

"Its working! They are retreating!"

"That's it. It's almost over...The conformation is almost done and we can go home." said Drake.

While traveling down the streets, looking for more targets, the XM1 was almost hit in the rear by a random shell. Turning around, they were being followed by Ami's Type 10. In a rush to stay on their toes, the group ignored the shot and fired into the turret ring of the Japanese MBT, but it only did minimal damage. The two long guns began to push against each other with all their might to prevent another tank from being shot again by the other. The two hulls bashed into each other and started to wear away at their armor. The Type 10 fired another shot that sliced the XM1 Abrams turret sidebars.

"Those shots are getting closer! Keep them off, will you please!"

The XM1 fired a shell that dented part of the hull of the Japanese MBT, and then both went back to pushing into each other again. The vicious cycle continues for another 30 seconds or so.

"Need support, do you copy?" Ian coughed and demanded at the same time into the radio.

"We are on our way!" yelled Thomas, "Sit tight until we-"

The vehicle began to shake and rattle back and forth. From outside, Erika had managed to track the IS in its place before speeding off.

"We'll deal with them later on." Erika reported.

Meanwhile, the two larger tanks were still brawling in the middle of an intersection. All of a sudden, both of the tanks swerved off and fired, with both shots speeding straight into Erika's charging Tiger II. The effect ate a huge hole into it and caused it back off with a whooshing noise. Afterwards, the Type 10 struck the XM1 and immobilized it.

"No!" Kyle yelled as he scurried out of the XM1 Abrams.

"Wait, what are you doing!?" Jonathan yelled.

"Bail out!" Drake shouted.

Drake and others immediately jumped out of the vehicle and ran for protection. From the broken down King Tiger, Erika and her crew emerged and jumped on top of Drake and the others. In the frenzy of the situation, Shiho showed up behind Ami.

"Stop them before they hurt each other." she demanded.

Seeing the fight get out of control and being heavily pressured by Shiho to put an end to it, the young military woman made one of the biggest mistakes of her carrer. She pulled out her SIG Sauer P220 sidearm and pulled its metal trigger. A second later, a scream of pain and agony came from the fight. It turned out that Drake had been hit by the fired pistol bullet. Ami gasped after realizing what she had done, while watching the others stop fighting and run away from the area.

The wounded boy started crying afterwards and began to curse while rolling back and forth on his back.

"Drake!? Are you alright!?" Thomas hollered from his spot, fearing to take a step forward.

He didn't answer. An ambulance pulled up to the scene and took Drake away for treatment. Turning her attention back to Shiho, she still held the gun in her hand.

"Listen here! Everyone is to stand down at once! I'm currently placing Shiho Nishizumi under military arrest."

Mother?" Maho said in awe at the scene.

"For what?" she asked.

"We don't need to go over this, miss. Forcing me to harm an adolescent and starting up a major conflict on these ships has landed you on the criminals list for your country. In about a few minutes, the United States Military and the rest of the Japanese Self Defense Force will be landing on this ship and locking it down. Everyone is to stay where they are at."

Shiho was speechless, "You knew about this?"

"Of course I have." Ami said, "I've known about this since the breakout at the competition. I originally was planned to come aboard for reconissance work, but you ask for me a week and a half earlier."

Just then, there was a loud sound coming from the sky as swarms of military helicopters began to circle around the cities of Death Valley, Pravda and Kuromorimine. Far below the three school vessels, dozens upon dozens of naval ships were floating alongside the mighty ships, though they seemed like toys next to the enormous cruisers. Minutes later, small parties of M1A2 Abrams' and Type 90's came down the streets of all three schools and began locking down certain areas of the ships. It looked like the occupation seemed to be coming to a close at long last.

* * *

**One Week Later**

* * *

Everyone sat eagerly in their chairs, waiting for the word to arrive about the United Nations final decision on the situation between the two nations. Later, a man came into the auditorium of male and female students, accompanied by a few other adult representatives. Stepping up to the platform on stage, he began to read a long document that he held in his hands.

"Greetings everyone. As you may know, you've all been under complete American and Japanese military control for about one week now. Today, the word has been given. After many weeks of conflict and violence aboard all your school vessels, the UN Council has agreed to act upon your unworthy decisions. As a penalty for unnecessary actions against each other, Death Valley Boys High, Kuromorimine Girls High and Pravda Girls High have had every one of their tanks confiscated."

The crowd remained silent after hearing the message. The man continued reading when he was sure no one was talking.

"They have decided that on top of that, the Tankery and Sensha-do programs on all three of your ships will be disabled…for a temporary amount of time before access will be granted back to them. The Death Valley American Boys High School will also return back to the United States as soon as its ship is unstuck from the other two. On a side note, a court made decision by the UN has found Shiho Nishizumi innocent, due to the lack of evidence in the case to find her guilty of starting the conflict."

The man concluded his speech and walked silently off the stage. The teens in the crowd began to mumble to one another after hearing what else the man up on the stage had to said. After everyone was released, Drake's crew members met up with each other outside to discuss about what happened during the speech.

"Dang, so we are going home after all." said Ian.

"I'm glad that we are. I'm sort of getting tired of Japan." Kyle blurted out.

"Dude, not so loud." Davian replied in a hushed voice.

"Well, I'm just glad that I get my dorm back." said Jonathan.

From the crowds of people, Maho came forward towards the group of boys.

"Can I have a word with you, please?" she asked.

"Sure." agreed the crew in unison.

"Listen I never got the chance to say this, but I never wanted to invade you in the-"

Kyle broke in, "Don't worry, I think we already know this, right?"

"But I mean that, I never wanted to harm you in any way." she answered back, "Not even if you accidentally hurt me like that one morning."

The group thought back to that time and suddenly, a look of seriousness came over their faces.

"Yes, we remember now and we don't blame you either." said Jonathan.

"I just want to be even and I don't want anymore problems." she said.

"Not to worry, we won't be having any problems anytime soon." he said.

"Good, but your friend is still at the hospital having this chest being treated on and I think he wanted to see you."

"What? He's still there?" they asked nervously.

"Yes and he's actually wanted to talk to you for awhile now. I keep getting the thought that he really misses you boys." said Maho.

"Well, then I guess it's time that we pay him a visit." Ian offered.

"We can take the helicopter, it'll be faster that way." Maho insisted, "I also have my accomplice Erika and Nonna come with us too."

After traveling to the Death Valley High Medical Center, the teens went to where Drake was recovering at. A nurse showed them the way and they all waited outside Drake's door until the nurse gave the okay to them. When she came out, they were told that it was permissible to enter.

"I think that we should go first." Davian said.

"Good plan." Erika quietly answered.

When the boys entered, they stood silently for a second in the darken hospital room.

"Is that you, guys?" a voice asked from across the room.

"Yes, it is." they responded hesitantly.

Slowly, the four walked further into the room and noticed that Drakes's bed was covered by the curtain that surrounds the bed area. Pulling back, they saw Drake lying under the covers.

"How have you been holding up, Commander?" asked Jonathan.

"Fine, I guess. It was only painful in the beginning though." he mumbled.

Drake sighed, "Look, I'm sorry that this happened to you guys. I would never think that this would be the aftermath of this conflict."

"Of bringing war to the schools?"

"That." Drake simply replied.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that they will forgive you." Davian replied leaning forward slightly.

"Really? After all that we have endured, I don't think that it was your fault." Kyle said in amazement.

"Yes. It was my fault." Drake answered in an unsteady tone.

Drake's eyes widened when he heard the door open to his room.

"Umm…"

The three other girls entered the room and closed the door behind them.

"No, no, no, no! I want them out!" Drake blurted out in a fearful voice.

"Oh, its alright." said Nonna, "We don't want to hurt you."

He shut his eyes and slowly leaned forward to try and pull the curtain back.

"Hey, Drake. Whats the matter with you?"

Struggling with the curtains and Drake, they got him to lie down on the bed again. Maho came over to the bedside and smiled softly at the patient while taking one of his hands into her own. At full force, Drake tried to lurch up from the bed and started to scream.

"Lying bitches! All of you! I hope that America kicks your asses!"

Maho, Erika and Nonna were both devastated and terrified. A pair of doctors flooded into the chamber and told the others to leave at once. With one last glare over her shoulder, Erika saw the furious look on Drake's face as tears began to trail down her cheeks.

"It's all over, don't worry. I'll sure that he will be released soon." said one of the doctors, trying to hurry the teenagers away.

"This is the result of war and it's a truly ugly thing." said Nonna.

"Yes, it is. But doesn't time heals all wounds?" asked Ian.

"Time heals all wounds." Erika whispered to himself, "I fear that might not work for PTSD."

Days later, in the evening, after tugging and pulling and shifting, the ships were free once more. As the Death Valley Boys High ship was drifting away towards the horizon of the sea, Katyusha watched on top of Nonna's shoulders.

"They were pretty good fighters, you think?" Katyusha asked to her Vice-Captain.

"Most favorable. I'd choose them in a competition any day." she happily answered.

"Do you think that we'll see them again?"

"If we could somehow access American Television then we possibly could." Nonna suggested.

"That sounds difficult." Katyusha said crossing her arms on Nonna's head and leaning forward.

Aboard the Death Valley Ship, Ian was sitting in his and Drakes dorm when he heard a knock on the door. When he answered it, Ian was surprised to see Sentinels face behind the door.

"Alex, what's going on?"

"Got the last copy of the Pravda Paper before I left the school. Wondered if you wanted a copy?" he said nervously.

"Sure, Alex." Ian said handing him a dollar, "Thank you."

"No problem." he replied as he walked down the hall, humming a tune softly to himself.

After looking at the paper for a while, he noticed a small print area in the top right hand corner of the page. After reading it completely, he nearly dropped the paper.

"Riots...Across the US?!" he stuttered to himself.

Written in the top article was the UN court verdict on Shiho and how there was a rumor spreading that Ami shot Drake on purpose, sparking riots in a few major cities and political controversy that swept across America. It seemed all too unreal.

* * *

EPILOGUE

* * *

At the Nishizumi Manor, both Miho Nishizumi and Kikuyo waited for Maho and Shiho's arrival. When Miho heard the sound of the doorbell, she bounced up from her seat on the couch to see who was there. Kikuyo watched from the hallway as Miho oped the door to see her mother and older sister standing at the entrance.

"Oh, Mother! Onee-Chan! I'm so happy that you two are home!"

"Yes, Miho. It was the most stressful of time." Shiho said both exhausted and in deep thought.

After saying her greetings to the Nishizumi Maid, Shiho walked quietly to her study. Meanwhile, the sisters both settled themselves in the den while Kiuyo tended to her duties.

"I've seen both of you on television." said Miho, "It must of been terrifying for you two to be stuck in that mess."

"It was." Maho confirmed, "However, I don't really want to speak of it."

"Huh? Why not, Onee-Chan?" Miho asked lightly.

"Well, let's just say that it was...very heavy." Maho said trying to think of the right thing to say to her younger sister.

"Oh, I understand." Miho replied, "What was the problem with you and Pravda?"

"We were trapped in an intense situation between us and a boys school from the United States. We fought each other for the longest of time and things just..." Maho trailed off for a second, "Things...just got worse for all of us and I had to make some pretty tough decisions on my own."

"Don't you always make tough desicions, Onee-Chan?"

"Yes, but these desicions were...possinly between life and death."

Miho was silent after hearing her older sister say this. After a few seconds, she slid closer to her sister.

"I hope that these things don't give you any trouble in the future." said Miho.

Maho warmly smiled and held Miho close to her, "Let us hope so, Miho. Let us hope so."

Back across the Pacific Ocean, in the small coastal city of Huntington Beach, the Death Valley High school ship sat silently in the portion of San Pedro Harbor that was constructed for it. Aboard the vessel, mass reconstruction of the city was being made and war torn streets and buildings were being re-done. Out in the distant desert hills of mesa's and rock formations, the main tankery team was hiking in the hills, when they noticed the desert compound. It was different and now, new buildings were being made.

"Well, would you look at that." Jonathan said in sudden surprise.

"Should we check it out?" asked Drake, who was walking much slower than usual.

"Yeah. Come on, let's see." said Ian as he raced Davian down the rocky hill.

When the crew walked into the compound, they were shocked to see it being completely restored again. Lying in the middle of the compound, on top of a red brick stand was a large tank.

"Hey, look at that!" Ian called out pointing to the statue.

Surely, it was more thathan a statue, but a memorial of some sort. On top of the wide brick column was their E-100. It had been restored on the outside and received repairs and a new coat of black paint, thacaused it shine in the mid-day sunlight. On a large plaque made of marble that was sealed on the side of the column was a message engraved in yellow letters. It said:

**IN MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WHO FOUGHT LONG AND HARD TO DEFEND THIS COMPOUND FROM FOREGIN ATTACKERS. THOSE WHO FOUGHT HERE WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR THEIR HARD EARNED BRAVERY IN MANY YEARS TO COME.**

**SEATED BEFORE THOSE READING THIS IS THE ACTUAL E-100 OF THE CREW WHO TOOK THE MOST PUNISHMENT HERE TO ENSURE THAT FREEDOM WOULD LIVE ON.**

"Our old tank is a now a battle memorial!? That's awesome!" shouted Ian.

"Well, that's the last thing that I thought that we would see happen." Kyle said in a happy tone.

"I guess that you can say that we are officially war heroes?" Jonathan wondered.

"I'm just glad that this long conflict is over, right Drake?" Davian asked.

"Yeah, that's correct." Drake said.

Not paying attention to the others, Drake turned to the north and looked silently upwards into the sky. He knew something was happening, but he didn't know what. He heaved a sigh and blinked as a slight wind began to pick up from behind the team.

"Something tells me...that this isn't the last time we'll see them."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
